Hermione glared at him and said:
"Don't forget what Professor Holmes said.
Once we've memorized the text, he'll teach us real Defense Against Dark Magic combat techniques.
I asked around. Slytherin hasn't had their lesson yet, which means we have a one-day advantage over them.
If we memorize the text before they do, we'll learn combat techniques sooner. Then we'll definitely be able to keep them firmly under our thumb..."
As soon as Hermione finished, the other students' eyes lit up.
They were brimming with fighting spirit.
They all picked up their textbooks and began chattering away as they read aloud.
The students from other years in the common room frowned.
But they could hardly say anything. After all, apart from the fourth-years and above,
the first- through third-years had also heard the news and taken out their textbooks early to memorize them quietly.
They hoped they could be chosen as Professor Holmes's class representatives.
They had heard that class representatives had the perk of handing out fruit.
Hermione could not help breathing a sigh of relief.
The method Percy taught me really works.
She knew very well where her weakness lay: she was not particularly well liked by the other students.
So after Douglas appointed her as a class representative, she had gone to see Percy privately.
First, of everyone she knew, Percy had the best relationship with Douglas.
Second, at the earlier gathering at Douglas's house, she had heard Percy say that his becoming a prefect owed a great deal to the little management tips Douglas had taught him.
When Percy heard that Douglas had also taken Hermione on as an underling... er, a class representative,
he had been happy to give her a few tips.
George and Fred sprang out and threw their arms around Ron, who looked ready to stuff his textbook into his head.
"Well, well, our youngest brother, Ron, has started..."
"Following in the footsteps of the outstanding Percy!"
"Has he fallen from grace, George?"
"I think so, Fred!"
Their remarks made Ron flush bright red, and he struggled to shake off their arms.
Hermione planted her hands on her hips and shouted:
"George, Fred, if you're not going to study, please don't disturb Ron!
Don't forget, Professor Holmes appointed you as class representatives too!"
At Hermione's words, George and Fred exchanged a smile.
George patted Fred. "Congratulations, my brother. You're an official now, even if you're only my deputy! Still, congratulations!"
Fred leaped away. "Merlin's socks, I'm obviously the one in charge! You're the deputy!"
George raised an eyebrow,
and Fred understood instantly.
"I get one day, you get the next!"
George argued:
"I get one day, you get the next!"
As they argued, the two scuffled their way into a corner of the common room.
Harry nudged Ron with his shoulder.
"Why would Mr. Holmes pick those two as class representatives?
And he doesn't even give them homework!"
Ron shrugged and said regretfully:
"I reckon it has something to do with something that happened back then. Unfortunately, I was too young at the time.
I don't know anything about it. Percy must have been bought off by those two. He won't tell me either."
Smack!
Hermione rapped Ron and Harry on the head with the book in her hand and said disapprovingly:
"Professor Holmes has his reasons. Hurry up and memorize your books!"
The Defense Against Dark Magic office.
By the time Miss Erin finished reciting the first section and left, it was already five forty.
Douglas hurriedly took the proposal he had prepared and headed for Professor McGonagall's office.
Professor McGonagall was the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Before Dumbledore became the Hogwarts Headmaster, Professor McGonagall had worked under him when he taught Transfiguration.
Their division of duties was also very clear. Since Dumbledore held titles in all sorts of international magical organizations,
he often attended various meetings elsewhere.
So internal Hogwarts affairs were generally handled by Professor McGonagall.
Well, it was a very standard arrangement: the man handled external affairs, and the woman handled internal ones.
Professor McGonagall's office was not far away, between the second and third floors. As long as he happened to catch a Moving Staircase just about to turn that way,
he could get there quickly.
When Professor McGonagall, who had been poring over a document, saw that her visitor was Douglas,
a rare smile brightened her face:
"Douglas, I must say, you really are suited to teaching.
I've heard all about it. Percy was just reporting to me that since your lesson,
The Lower Years have been memorizing their textbooks in the common room, while the older ones, apart from those doing homework in the library, have all gathered around them,
reviewing material they studied before.
This is the first time Percy has encountered this sort of commotion, and he doesn't know how to handle it."
Douglas smiled, walked straight over to the chair opposite Professor McGonagall, and sat down as he explained:
"I've always felt that books are a summation of our predecessors' experience. Only by remembering that experience
can we quickly find the path closest to success in our own practice, at the least cost and in the least time.
I don't want my students to one day discover a way of dealing with dark magic at the cost of their own blood,
only for it to be something already mentioned in a Lower Years textbook.
Unfortunately, not every child can think of or understand that principle.
So as a teacher, what I need to do now is make them commit that knowledge firmly to memory.
Then one day, through practice, they will naturally assimilate it.
..."
As Professor McGonagall listened to Douglas describe his understanding of education,
she could not help setting down her quill.
She folded her hands on the desk and carefully considered his words.
"I have indeed encountered the situations you describe over my many years of teaching.
Whether it is students being unfamiliar with the textbook material during my lessons and slowing the class's progress,
or older students spending ages studying Transfiguration, only to discover that it was all covered in their earlier textbooks.
However, I personally don't believe that means this approach is particularly suited to learning magic.
You should know that magic itself is an extension of thought.
Confining magic within rigid knowledge would severely hamper their development of new magic."
Douglas understood what Professor McGonagall meant.
Hogwarts emphasized practical teaching and developing students' hands-on abilities.
At present, probably every professor's classroom except Douglas's was filled with a dazzling array of teaching aids.
The students' main activity in class was hands-on practice, while textbook knowledge served only as supplementary material for understanding.
For the most part, teachers guided them through practical work.
The other supplementary courses also generally used audiovisual teaching methods.
But this presented a problem: most students showed varying degrees of imbalance between subjects.
Moreover, their grasp of the basic theoretical knowledge they had studied was not particularly solid.
Much of it was only half understood. Passing down knowledge this way had left most people in the modern wizarding world content to muddle through when using magic.
Or perhaps they would only become aware of such problems after starting work.
Then, for the sake of their jobs, they would revisit the knowledge they had missed in their textbooks.
Of course, Douglas was not denying that there were problems with Hogwarts's educational approach.
Rather, while employing practical teaching, they had left more of the theoretical knowledge for outside class.
They relied entirely on students' own initiative to master the contents of their textbooks.
But these were all children in their early teens. How much self-control could anyone expect most of them to have?
At the same time, that theoretical knowledge was also material tested in the OWLs...
In short, Douglas had set his sights on the students' free time.
Before you continue