Unscrupulous Reporter

Professor McGonagall entered the classroom on time, but her anger was at its peak.

In the morning, another horrifying student prank occurred at the Slytherin dining table.

But she couldn't find out who it was... Although she had reason to suspect two or three people, especially the twin brothers, she had no proof.

Professor McGonagall pulled out a bottle filled with beetles. The first lesson of the day was to turn these beetles into Knut.

Many young wizards began to complain quietly, saying they had completely forgotten what they learned last semester. They all thought the first class of the new semester would just be a casual chat about what they had learned during the summer vacation.

"You're already second-year students. Next year, in third year, you'll be choosing your courses, and the fifth-year Ordinary Wizarding Level won't be far off. You must keep your spirits up."

"Many students' grades were a complete mess at the end of last semester!" Professor McGonagall said sternly.

William and Qiu exchanged a glance. It seemed best to end the "reference answer" business as soon as possible; things could get out of hand and become serious.

Everyone received a beetle, which they placed on the table and began to Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall kept pointing out the key points, but many students just looked at her blankly.

They recognized each word Professor McGonagall spoke, but they couldn't understand them at all when they put them together.

Qiu poked and prodded with her wand for ages, but all she got was a beetle to exercise. The beetle kept dodging the wand and running all over the table, and she couldn't light it no matter what she did.

Marietta was even worse; she pinched the beetle in her hand, trying to quiet it down.

But she underestimated her own strength and overestimated the beetle's defensive capabilities, crushing it flat.

Marietta had no choice but to ask for another one, which displeased Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall paced back and forth in the classroom, her oppressive aura reminiscent of Snape's, causing many to tremble.

The Hogwarts professors probably exchanged ideas; they were experts in psychology, micro-expression analysis, and irony, and knew how to frighten young wizards with the simplest actions and words.

"Mr. Mason, Knut won't crawl around everywhere."

"Miss Kaslana, you've killed fifteen beetles. Are you going to skewer them and roast them?"

"Mr. Bach, Knut doesn't have that many feet!"

Professor McGonagall continued to reprimand the wayward young wizards.

Soon, Hufflepuff's Summerby transformed the beetle into Knut, eliciting gasps of surprise.

But he only produced his own Knut and pretended to succeed, which Professor McGonagall saw through immediately. She deducted fifteen points from his score and made him write a self-criticism about the connection between honesty and beetles.

William, holding his wand, casually pointed, and the beetle transformed into a brand new Knut, looking exactly like the real thing.

Everyone gasped in surprise.

Professor McGonagall was extremely pleased. She nodded, but still added sparingly, "Ravenclaw a point!"

The consensus among the professors is to avoid giving William extra points.

If any other junior wizard could do what William did, it would be a perfect score.

The college sets up the House Cup to encourage everyone to answer more questions, but it's not meant to give points to any one person.

With William being such a scoring machine, the other students are no match for him; the only thing they can do is limit his ability to continue giving Ravenclaw an unfair advantage.

After a long period of torment, the bell finally rang, and Professor McGonagall assigned a paper on animals turning into objects, which had to be filled two pages of parchment.

Everyone groaned, but thankfully, the Wizarding World didn't have Word, so Professor McGonagall couldn't insist on using the 12-point font size. They could still try to make the parchment appear fuller by changing the font size.

Professor McGonagall exempted William from his assignments, believing that William shouldn't waste time on such simple things and that he deserved to learn more.

William's Transfiguration skills have been suddenly elevated in some strange way. Professor McGonagall, unaware of the time loop, simply believes it's due to a sudden awakening of his talent.

After class, William was kept behind by Professor McGonagall.

"I heard Headmaster Dumbledore tell me that you want to study the Animagus?"

Professor McGonagall led William toward her office.

However, the journey was very crowded, and they encountered a rare traffic jam.

The Boy Who Lived has appeared... well, he just woke up not long ago and was getting ready to go to the Great Hall for lunch.

But Harry clearly underestimated his influence; the whispers followed him ever since he stepped out of his dormitory.

Before they even reached the Great Hall, the road ahead was completely blocked, with many students standing on tiptoe, eager to catch a glimpse of him.

McGonagall pursed her lips, her face serious. After a moment, she shouted, "Get out of my way! Anyone who does this will have points deducted!"

Professor McGonagall generally doesn't punish students by deducting points; that's a skill of Professor Snape's, who prefers to let students know their mistakes through her eyes.

But at times like this, she has no choice but to keep talking about deducting points.

The crowd dispersed slightly after Professor McGonagall shooed them away.

Ron squeezed next to Harry, looking somewhat excited. It was the first time he had ever encountered such a scene, especially being surrounded by so many people.

He is generally not noticed by most people.

Holding a Hogwarts Map, he shouted to Harry, "The Great Hall is on the first floor; we should take the stairs over there."

"This map is really good, Harry, you should definitely buy one."

Professor McGonagall frowned and stopped. "Mr. Weasley, wait a moment."

"What's wrong, Professor?" Ron backed away, somewhat frightened.

"Let me see the map you have."

"Oh, okay." Ron seemed a bit flustered, but he still carefully handed it over.

Professor McGonagall held up a map with the words "Akali's Mystery Shop" written at the top.

On the parchment scroll, the complex floors of Hogwarts were clearly revealed, with a dot next to it bearing the name Ron Weasley.

She tapped the map with her wand, and soon, as if an invisible hand had written a line of words on it.

"Warning! This map is sold by Akali's Mystery Shop. Any further attempts to pry into trade secrets or infringe on intellectual property rights will trigger self-destruct mode."

McGonagall asked in surprise, "Mr. Weasley, where did you get this map?"

"Fred gave it to me, what's wrong, Professor? Is there a problem?" Ron shrank back fearfully, thinking it was a contraband item.

"No problem, but this map... doesn't look like something a junior wizard would make."

"Professor McGonagall, this map is one of the main products in our Akali's Mystery Shop," William exclaimed immediately, recognizing the business opportunity.

"This is also a product that our team developed together."

"Oh, really?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

The young wizards who hadn't had time to completely disperse surrounded them again, completely blocking their way.

"Professor, what do you think of this map?" William asked.

"Excellent." Professor McGonagall looked at the map for a while longer, praising it highly.

McGonagall curiously took the map in her hand and offered William her expert advice.

"William, your Transfiguration are already quite good, but there's still a gap in the details. For example, these stairs are severely distorted."

"And then there's your secrecy. If a wizard with a powerful Confundus Charm were to do that, they could definitely take control of this map."

Of course, I dare say you also have a master map for remotely monitoring these sub-maps—a brilliant idea...

William waved his wand, and a piece of parchment and a quill floated in mid-air.

The quill pen flew across the paper.

Harry tiptoed, glanced at the parchment, and gaped when he saw what it contained.

Professor McGonagall and Akali's Mystery Shop held friendly talks and exchanged practical opinions.

Overall, this is a map that even Professor McGonagall praised.

With an extremely critical eye, she commented on the current teaching quality at Hogwarts, believing that too many young wizards were wasting their precious time on finding their way.

This is also the main reason for the significant drop in students' grades last semester.

Professor McGonagall recommends that everyone should have a map.

Make sure Hogwarts Magical Map; love life, love maps even more; wizards should treat themselves well...

Harry was dumbfounded.

Did Professor McGonagall say that? Or did he just zone out and miss something?

(Thanks to "hehehehehejia", "Fengling Shiwu", and "book friend 20190901005004087")

The donations from three big shots.

I still owe one chapter, I'll make it up tomorrow. (????ω????))