In the staffroom, leisurely tea parties had long since become relics of history.
The place now looked more like an efficiently run center for setting and marking exams.
The air no longer carried the sweet scent of biscuits, but a mixture of parchment, ink, and intense mental strain, rather like the smell of the library late at night.
Before Professor Minerva McGonagall, a thick stack of Transfiguration quiz papers turned their own pages while an enchanted quill scrawled red comments across them at an astonishing speed.
"Next, Mr. Weasley... oh, Merlin's beard, he's turned the teapot into a feathered slug again..."
Professor McGonagall rubbed her temples wearily. After working nonstop, the tip of the quill had begun to glow faintly red, as though it might overheat and start smoking at any moment.
Ever since Douglas Professor Holmes's intensive, high-frequency, all-encompassing teaching philosophy had been implemented through the Academic Affairs Office.
Quizzes every day, major exams every week.
That had become the new normal at Hogwarts.
At first, the professors had voiced considerable reservations, believing it stifled the students' creativity.
But when the students displayed visible improvement in spell duels and daily practice, they had to admit that this teaching mode was frighteningly effective.
"Minerva! Good news! Absolutely wonderful news!"
Professor Filius Flitwick floated excitedly through the doorway. He was small in stature, but the enthusiasm he radiated at that moment could have set the entire room ablaze.
He waved a sheet of parchment covered in complex curves and data drawn in various colors of ink.
"Look! This is the final report from this morning's surprise practical combat test in Charms class!"
Professor Flitwick floated the chart before Professor McGonagall, excitedly pointing the tip of his wand at a steeply rising red line.
"The students' average casting speed for Protego has