A Familiar Classroom

Based on Manus's experience, there were two common possibilities for a situation like this.

First, the writer had never wanted to write the paper at all. They were only writing for the sake of writing, getting as far as they could. This usually happened with assignment papers, and the quality was generally terrible.

Second, the reason the writer had written the paper lay outside the paper's topic. They genuinely wanted to write it well, but their purpose was not the paper itself, which was why the paper lacked a clear central objective.

The reason behind Barty Jr.'s paper was most likely the latter.

Hearing Manus's question, Barty Jr.'s pupils contracted sharply.

"W-what? What was I thinking... Of course I wanted to write the paper well."

"Yes, write the paper well. And then? Why did you write this paper? To research Petrificus Totalus? Or to show it to someone?"

Barty Jr. looked away, clearly showing a tendency to avoid the question.

"If it was for someone else to read, and you only brought it to me for advice in advance, then you can take it to them. For a first-year who had only been at school for a week, this paper's discussion of Petrificus Totalus was already outstanding."

Manus handed the paper back to him.

"If you wrote it for me to read, then next time, I hope you can show me something that belongs to you... Not advanced learning that someone else could master after studying for a few more years, but something you have thought through yourself, something unique. Don't worry about whether it's perfect. It can still show your intelligence."

Manus rose and smoothed the creases in his robes.

"No matter which House the Sorting Hat originally believed you should have gone to, since you chose Ravenclaw at