For the Honor of the School

"Ahem—"

McGonagall cleared her throat and reined in her wandering thoughts.

"What you just said was rather astonishing. I couldn't help taking a moment longer to react... But even if what you said is true."

McGonagall paused. On reflection, she still found it somewhat difficult to accept what Flitwick had just said: that a third-year student had mastered Apparition, could silently cast all of Hogwarts' seventh-year Charms and extracurricular spells, and so on.

He had even invented a spell that summoned stone statues and could perfectly complement the Transfiguration Spell tactically?

But Flitwick had no reason to lie to her...

So McGonagall forced herself to continue thinking along that assumption.

"But Filius, you know there has never been such a precedent at Hogwarts. And what reason would we use?"

They could hardly cite academic pressure. Students chose how many electives to take themselves, and even those who had taken five electives in the past had never received such preferential treatment.

Even if McGonagall was personally willing to do this, and knew that giving Manus such special treatment would not affect his grades, she still needed a reason that could convince everyone else. A sufficiently objective reason, one that at the very least could not be "because he is Manus."

Flitwick understood what McGonagall meant. After thinking for a moment, he found a sufficiently reasonable excuse.

"How about saying Manus needs to train Ignis in Wizard's Chess? With Pante having taken second place last year, it would be perfectly reasonable for us to actively prepare for the next Inter-School Wizard's Chess Championship, or even the one after that, wouldn't it?"

Applying for an exception for the honor of the school, combined with Manus's already outstanding grades—such a reason would be enough even to convince the Board of Governors.

Or rather, as