Competing with Other Schools for Students!

Sean knew that this Diango Ruvio was someone sent by Lupin. He was a powerful and reliable wizard in the organization that Lupin founded. He suddenly sent him a message.

Sean unfolded the note, and the first sentence read, "We've been beaten to it."

First come, first served...

Continue reading, "I set off at dawn and visited twelve families, all of them Muggle Family- born young wizards. Only now have I secured my first Hogwarts student. Sir, I didn't even have a chance to compete with others, as admissions officers from other schools went yesterday. Of the first eleven families, six young wizards chose Newmontgard, three chose Beauxbatons, and three chose Durmstrang. This is my experience today. After contacting several colleagues, I found that they had the same experience, just not as many as I encountered. I will continue to the next family; I'm informing you of this for now."

"Hiss..." Sean gasped.

That old man Grindelwald was trapped under the Invisibility Cloak, yet he still got to Hogwarts a step ahead of everyone else?!

The current admissions situation is completely different from when Sean received two acceptance letters at the same time. Due to changes in the external situation, there is no longer a situation where people come to compete for students.

Basically, a wizard comes to the young wizard's house, demonstrates his magic, and as long as he can gain the trust of the young wizard's family, then the student is considered recruited.

Therefore, seizing the initiative is very important.

Sean had always thought Hogwarts was moving quite quickly, but he hadn't expected Grindelwald to have already made his move...

That's one thing, but how did Beauxbatons and Durmstrang get in too?!

There are four School of Magic in Europe. In recent years, Newmontgard has had the strongest student body, followed by Hogwarts, then Beauxbatons, and finally Durmstrang.

It's one thing for Newmontgard Gard to poach students, but it's quite another that the other two schools are also poaching students from within the England. This seems unreasonable.

Although most schools recruit students from across Europe, this is a rare occurrence in previous years...

Does this mean that the other schools have already started their recruitment process and have already admitted all the students within their usual recruitment scope?

Furthermore, Durmstrang has gradually declined in recent years due to the rise of Newmontgard. Even so, this school, famous for its Dark Arts, has not abandoned its tradition of only admitting Pureblood Wizard. And just now, Diongo Ruvio's message clearly stated that he initially went to recruit from the Muggle Family...

Are students really that scarce this year...?

Professor McGonagall noticed Sean's frown and went over to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Professor, take a look at this." Sean handed over the note.

Professor McGonagall frowned after reading it. "No wonder, no wonder we waited so long before any new students were teleported here by the Portkey..."

"Professor, Newmontgard's recruitment is still within my understanding, but do Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have a recruitment scope that includes the England in previous years?" Sean asked doubtfully.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Of the four School of Magic in Europe, Durmstrang has the smallest enrollment area, but it still basically covers most of Europe. The other schools, including our Hogwarts, are open to all of Europe. However, due to the geographical location of each school, the enrollment area of each school is basically fixed."

"Hogwarts for example. Its students are mainly from within the England, with the occasional intake of young wizards from other countries near the England, and most of them are from the Muggle Family. Other schools are similar. Beauxbatons is located in the Pyrenees Mountains, and its student body is mainly from France and Spain. Durmstrang is located in Scandinavian Peninsula, and its student body is from Northern Europe, including Germany."

Sean chuckled awkwardly; he had always assumed Durmstrang was located near Germany...

Seeing his curious expression, Professor McGonagall continued to explain, "Newmontgard's rise has taken away most of Durmstrang's students, and Newmontgard is truly active in recruiting across Europe, including some students who do not enroll."

"Not enrolling?" Sean asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Professor McGonagall nodded. "There are many wizards in Europe, but clearly, even the combined number of students from the original three School of Magic wouldn't be enough. This is because many young wizards don't attend school. Instead, they receive individual instruction, as was the case long ago. For example, in Greece, there are quite a few wizards, but Greece students are rarely seen at Hogwarts or other schools. This is because they generally don't attend school. They might be taught magic by their parents or family members, or by respected elder wizards in their local wizarding community Greece. They tend to be raised in a more free-range manner."

"In some Europe border countries, young wizards may choose School of Magic in other regions, such as the world's largest School of Magic, the Uagadou School of Magic in Uganda, Africa, and the Koldovstoretz School of Magic in St. Saint Petersburg, Russia."

"I see..." After listening to Professor McGonagall's explanation, Sean nodded in sudden understanding.

Professor McGonagall glanced at the note again, a worried look on her face. "Perhaps due to the recent spate of accidents, all the universities have stepped up their recruitment efforts. Even Durmstrang is recruiting children from the Muggle Family. It seems that we at Hogwarts are a step behind..."

Sean looked up at the young wizards in the side hall who had just changed into their Wizarding Robes and were curiously observing them. He silently counted their numbers and then said, "Given the current situation, it's acceptable... and my instructions to them were to recruit children from the Muggle Family first, since Wizarding Family in the England should still choose Hogwarts."

"However..." Sean muttered to himself.

"But what?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Professor, judging from the progress, Hogwarts isn't slow. The reason we're a step behind is actually..." Sean lowered his voice, "...related to the British Ministry of Magic."

Professor McGonagall was taken aback at first, then seriously pushed up her glasses. "You mean, the British Ministry of Magic and other schools leaked the news that we were going to recruit students privately?"

Sean nodded. "Let's leave Newmontgard aside for now. The other two schools are a bit strange. And it shouldn't be called a leak, Professor. You should have communicated with the Ministry of Magic beforehand, right?"

"Yes, we communicated, but we didn't reach an agreement. They don't allow us to recruit students during the semester."

"That makes sense. The Ministry of Magic wouldn't allow Hogwarts to admit students, and then they went and reminded Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Since you professors are being monitored by the Ministry of Magic, you had to give the task to me, which wasted a lot of time. That's why we got there first," Sean explained.

Professor McGonagall frowned even more deeply. "But what good would a decrease in Hogwarts enrollment do for the British Ministry of Magic...?"

Sean said quietly, "But the Ministry of Magic is not the Ministry of Magic as it used to be..."

Professor McGonagall sighed, "Yes..."

"Furthermore, wizards need to report when crossing national borders, but they acted so quickly that they didn't even have time to complete the reporting process... This can only mean that some official forces have opened a back door for them."

Professor McGonagall rubbed her temples, her head aching. "Indeed."

"Actually, I have another guess." Sean changed the subject.

"What?"

"So, will other schools temporarily abandon their previous enrollment areas for young wizards in order to grab Hogwarts ' students first?" Sean said.

"It's very likely..." Professor McGonagall's eyes lit up.

"After all, schools are currently in regular class hours, not on holiday, so they don't have many staff available. I don't think they have enough time to recruit students from their own schools and then try to poach students from Hogwarts," Sean cautioned.

"That's right, there's not enough time, because they have to persuade each parent and young wizard one by one, especially wizards from the Muggle Family."

Sean blinked. "Professor, Hogwarts doesn't discriminate against students from other countries, does it?"

"Of course, Hogwarts treats all students equally," Professor McGonagall said firmly.

"How about we try a different approach?" Sean laughed.

Sean's judgment was based on the fact that the British Ministry of Magic was already under the control of the Returners, and the France and Germany Ministry of Magic were also under Returners control. Their intention to poach students from Hogwarts meant that a larger influx of new students might have some impact. In this situation, Sean naturally had to do the opposite.

As for Newmontgard, there's not much Sean can do; Grindelwald snatches it every year anyway...

Professor McGonagall immediately understood what Sean meant. She paced back and forth for a moment before making her decision.

"Sean, Hogwarts needs your help."

"It would be my great honor."

"I need to get more names of the young wizards. Can you contact more people?"

"Of course, I'm used to making extra preparations; there are still some people who haven't set off yet," Sean said with a smile.

Professor McGonagall gave her an approving look. "Well done, Ravenclaw, add twenty points."

After saying that, she left in a hurry.

Sean knew that Professor McGonagall must have gone to find the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance.

These two magical artifacts, which have existed since the founding of Hogwarts, are key to Hogwarts ' admissions process. The Quill of Acceptance discovers newborns with magical abilities with lenient requirements, while the Book of Admittance is much more rigorous. It uses strict standards to select newborns discovered by the Quill of Acceptance, and only writes their names in the book after confirming that they are qualified to become wizards.

These two Magical Item can only be used by the headmaster and Vice Principal, and if Sean is not mistaken, the sensing range of the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance should originally be only the England.

Professor McGonagall likely used some method to expand her sensing range.

Sean suddenly grinned.

Now, all of Europe has truly entered into a "battle" to seize new life.

This is getting more and more interesting...

The Wizarding Welfare Organization, hidden in the Muggle world's office building, was in a flurry of activity, with Lupin constantly directing his subordinates to categorize the information that was being passed on.

"This, this, this... these twenty children are too close together... you go, Shady," Lupin instructed.

"OK."

"You need to be quick in persuading them. Don't worry about your magic being discovered by the local Ministry of Magic. Also, the boss sent over a new script, remember to use it. In addition, if the other party shows obvious resistance, just give up and move on to the next one."

"Don't worry, boss." Shady smiled as he took the list and information sheet, then shook the Portkey in his hand. "We're illegally smuggling people here. I don't plan to stay there too long and get arrested by the local Ministry of Magic."

Lupin smiled and said, "I trust you to handle things. Go ahead."

"Okay." After saying that, Shady activated the Portkey and disappeared from the spot.

If Sean could see this, he would definitely nod in satisfaction.

This is the power of money.

Since they were going to compete for students in other schools' territories, reporting to the Ministry of Magic was clearly impractical. However, the Wizarding Welfare Organization had adhered to Sean's consistent philosophy from its inception—practicality!

Regardless of whether it's the underworld or the legitimate world, or even something that's indistinguishable between right and wrong, as long as you can be swayed by profit, you can make contact with them.

With a large amount of Galleon provided by Mr. Wallop, Lupin easily reached agreements with many border smuggling wizards and even made contact with many smugglers.

Now, with enough money, Sean can bypass the Ministry of Magic's border surveillance and smuggle a bunch of people across the border.

Now, let's see how it goes...

Inside Hogwarts Castle, Sean was still greeting the new students who had come to register. Now that classes were over, the Prefect came to help at Sean's request.

By this time, most of the Muggle Family in England had been beckoned, and children from the Wizarding Family began to be teleported over using the Portkey.

"Thank you, Mr. Wallop."

"You're welcome, Kai." Sean smiled and waved to the little boy in front of him. The boy was the younger brother of Sean's roommate Cormac McLaggen.

Sean looked up at the number of students in the side hall. It wasn't too few, but it wasn't enough compared to previous years.

Just then, another person was teleported through the Portkey to the center of the side hall.

"Hello, junior, may I ask your name?"

"Kavin Andres, hello, sir." The pale-skinned little boy spoke with a thick German accent.

Sean's eyes lit up. "Where are you from?"

"Germany, Bremen, Germany."

Success... Sean was secretly delighted.

After the introductions, Calvin Andres handed over a note. "Sir, the admissions officer asked me to pass this on... I'm sorry, I was so, so nervous, I almost forgot..."

"It's okay, thank you."

After the nervous little boy left, Sean unfolded the note.

"Everything went smoothly. The first Muggle Family wasn't recruited by any other school. I'll head to the next family right away."

Sure enough, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang haven't even had time to deal with the local students yet...

Sean grinned.