"Of course, of course you can, Wade."
Professor McGonagall picked up her quill without hesitation and signed the application. When she looked up again, her voice was much gentler than usual.
"I'm glad you took the initiative to suggest this. I hope you can do even better than last year."
Wade nodded. "I will, Professor."
"And," Professor McGonagall said with a smile, "if you need assistance from any of the school's professors, you may ask at any time... professors from any subject will do. I'll help you arrange it."
Wade thanked her again, picked up the application, and left Professor McGonagall's office.
Standing in the corridor, he glanced back at the tightly shut office door. Remembering Professor McGonagall's gratified, delighted expression just now, he could not help feeling somewhat moved.
The professors were already busy enough as it was. Professor McGonagall was both Head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress, and she also had to handle much of the work that had originally belonged to Dumbledore. She was busier than anyone.
Yet even so, outside of work, she would still squeeze out time to help students who wanted to learn, even willingly sacrificing all of her own rest time for them.
No one could go that far without a heartfelt love for teaching and nurturing students, and a wholehearted desire to see every student grow.
It had to be said that although the choice of professors in certain subjects was always prone to disaster, most of Hogwarts's professors truly were the best teachers Wade could have hoped to encounter.
Compared with the problems in Britain's Muggle boarding schools—bullying, abuse, rigid and harsh schedules, staff indifference toward students' health, and so on—Hogwarts truly seemed full of warmth.
Considering all those advantages, even Voldemort, who constantly popped up to demand attention, did