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Chapter 160: Oh No, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore Are Arguing
"Professor William, Professor Adams, the patient needs to rest. She can't take in too much information from strangers at once—"
Just as William was getting into the conversation, Madam Pomfrey knocked on the door to give her warning.
She was the expert in this regard, so William could only take his leave with Adams.
---
"William, you're quite interested in the child-rearing practices of pure-blood families?"
Adams asked casually after they left the Hospital Wing.
"Yes, I'm a little curious. After all, I didn't come from a wizarding family, so I know nothing about how students grow up before coming to Hogwarts—back then, my education was more of an apprenticeship."
William replied nonchalantly, thinking back on their conversation—Mrs. Weasley's temperament was much better than he had imagined. She didn't blame the school at all for a large chunk of her child's memory being erased and was very amiable.
'If I hadn't heard Mrs. Weasley's Howler before, I'd never believe this good-natured lady could get so furious...'
"What's there to be curious about, William? Half-bloods mostly go to Muggle schools, same for Muggle-borns. Pure-bloods will hire a private tutor or just do it themselves, until the acceptance letter from Hogwarts arrives—" Adams spread his hands. "It's that simple. Of course, there are occasional exceptions."
"Exceptions?"
"Squibs. But no one likes to talk about them. They're an unfortunate existence."
Adams shook his head, clearly unwilling to dwell on the term.
William didn't press the matter. It was the first time he had heard the word; he could just look it up in a book when he got back. However, that would have to wait. His current priority was to chew through the thick records left by Professor Slughorn, leaving no room for distractions in other areas.
'I'll have to jot this down in my small notebook when I get back. Don't forget.'
'The name Tom is just too common. The Muggle world is full of Toms, and so is the wizarding world. Even Old Tom is named Tom—it's a name so common I don't even know where to begin.'
"William, what are you thinking about?"
Adams's voice snapped William out of his daze. Without realizing it, they had already arrived at the doorway to Adams's office.
"Sorry, Adams. I was thinking about something else. That diadem is putting a lot of pressure on me, and my thoughts keep drifting back to it—" William calmly fobbed him off with a pre-prepared lie.
"Oh, for goodness' sake, stop beating around the bush! I know I was careless," Adams's old face flushed, and he waved his hands blusteringly. "I'll be more careful during tomorrow's test. How long have you even been at Hogwarts?!"
William just smiled at him, saying nothing.
"Bang!"
Adams scurried back into his office in embarrassment. "See you tomorrow! I have important documents to handle!!!"
The trip to the Hospital Wing wasn't a waste. He had brought Adams, an uninvolved professor, along precisely to show him how powerful the diadem could be when it acted up. Undoubtedly, after achieving the main goal of visiting the injured student, the secondary objective was also accomplished.
'It's just so strange—why did the diadem even erase the memory of the Sorting? It can't be that Ginny Weasley is some child of destiny like Liu Xiu, finding Ravenclaw's Diadem on her very first day of school, can it?'
'But that's not right either. If she were really such a child of destiny, why wasn't she sorted into Ravenclaw?'
William shook his head and pulled a notebook from his pocket, jotting down this sudden inspiration along with the matter of Squibs. Ever since he had seen the old professor's fast-forwarded memory, he had started carrying this thing around with him.
'Time to get back to work. There's still a thick stack of notes. I'm really just making trouble for myself...'
---
"William!"
A shout came from outside the door. William, who had woken up early and was happily poring over those blasted records, was suddenly interrupted. The night before, he had finally found some interesting and useful information, reading until he was too sleepy to continue before going to bed, and had woken up early to pick it back up.
'It's only seven. That scoundrel Adams, wasn't he supposed to be reflecting on his mistakes yesterday? What's he doing this early in the morning?'
After marking his place in the records and carefully putting them back where they belonged, William ruffled his hair, blinked his eyes a few times to feign a just-woken-up look, and said, "It's so early, Adams. Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Hurry up and get ready! Something big has happened!"
Adams's tone at the doorway was unusually excited.
'Huh? Why did I mess up my hair? As long as I don't open the door, that guy can't come in—' William, a bit slow on the uptake due to lack of sleep, finally realized the uselessness of his recent actions. He popped a peppermint into his mouth in a fit of pique.
Five minutes later, having tidied up his appearance, William finally opened the office door. "What's so urgent? It's the weekend, a day for sleeping!"
"I've been up since four in the morning tending to my plants. What's a weekend?"
Adams retorted self-righteously before even stepping inside.
...
You win.
Seeing William rendered speechless, Adams leisurely strolled in and pulled a chair over with his wand.
"People from the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors are here, and so is The Daily Prophet—"
"They're here? For the diadem?"
William's mind immediately jumped to that troublesome matter.
"Of course, what else could it be for—I heard Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall almost got into an argument."
"An argument?"
William was taken aback—Professor McGonagall arguing with Dumbledore was no small matter.
"Yeah, an argument. The news about the diadem has already spread, right? The Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors want to bring The Daily Prophet along to do some kind of special feature. I don't quite get the exact title, but the point is to link the diadem to them."
Adams said this while skillfully rummaging through William's snacks.
'It's kind of like one of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons being unearthed. It's perfectly normal for the Ministry of Magic to want to ride the wave of popularity.' William processed this for a moment and roughly understood—then he started to panic. The thought was terrifying. Why was this thing given to him?
Adams, busy eating the preserved fruit, didn't notice a thing—
"The Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic offered a combined grant of fifty thousand Galleons, and Dumbledore agreed to let them come with The Daily Prophet—Professor McGonagall cornered Dumbledore for a good while over it."
Adams said with a happy grin.
'Looks like this diadem can't be destroyed now. How could I destroy it with all this commotion? Still, if it can't be destroyed, trading it for some funds for the school isn't a bad deal.'
"A fifty-thousand Galleon grant, that's a lot, isn't it? It's no small sum, even for a school—what does Professor McGonagall have to object to?"
"Professor McGonagall thinks it's too little. She's annoyed that the Headmaster agreed so readily..."
Adams struggled to swallow the preserved fruit before giving the answer, then he started laughing happily.
"Huh? I didn't hear anything about this last night—"
"The Ministry of Magic only heard the news last night. The owls were waiting first thing in the morning. I could see the flock of them from the Greenhouse—Merlin knows how many owls the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors sent with express letters."
"Whoa..." William exclaimed in amazement. "Wait, they're in that much of a hurry? They send a letter in the morning and show up before noon?"
"What else? If they wait for the students' parents to spread the news and public opinion takes shape, wouldn't the money be wasted?"
Adams replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Then how did Professor McGonagall find out?"
"Professor McGonagall was also woken up by the owls. I heard that by the time she went to check, Dumbledore had already agreed."
Adams stuffed another mouthful of preserved fruit in. "Hurry up and write your report. If you want any new equipment, you need to file for it quickly. You can submit the application once Professor McGonagall has cooled down—that's all. I'm taking the preserved fruit. I'm off to get Singeade."
(end of chapter)
"Professor William, Professor Adams, the patient needs to rest. She can't take in too much information from strangers at once—"
Just as William was getting into the conversation, Madam Pomfrey knocked on the door to give her warning.
She was the expert in this regard, so William could only take his leave with Adams.
---
"William, you're quite interested in the child-rearing practices of pure-blood families?"
Adams asked casually after they left the Hospital Wing.
"Yes, I'm a little curious. After all, I didn't come from a wizarding family, so I know nothing about how students grow up before coming to Hogwarts—back then, my education was more of an apprenticeship."
William replied nonchalantly, thinking back on their conversation—Mrs. Weasley's temperament was much better than he had imagined. She didn't blame the school at all for a large chunk of her child's memory being erased and was very amiable.
'If I hadn't heard Mrs. Weasley's Howler before, I'd never believe this good-natured lady could get so furious...'
"What's there to be curious about, William? Half-bloods mostly go to Muggle schools, same for Muggle-borns. Pure-bloods will hire a private tutor or just do it themselves, until the acceptance letter from Hogwarts arrives—" Adams spread his hands. "It's that simple. Of course, there are occasional exceptions."
"Exceptions?"
"Squibs. But no one likes to talk about them. They're an unfortunate existence."
Adams shook his head, clearly unwilling to dwell on the term.
William didn't press the matter. It was the first time he had heard the word; he could just look it up in a book when he got back. However, that would have to wait. His current priority was to chew through the thick records left by Professor Slughorn, leaving no room for distractions in other areas.
'I'll have to jot this down in my small notebook when I get back. Don't forget.'
'The name Tom is just too common. The Muggle world is full of Toms, and so is the wizarding world. Even Old Tom is named Tom—it's a name so common I don't even know where to begin.'
"William, what are you thinking about?"
Adams's voice snapped William out of his daze. Without realizing it, they had already arrived at the doorway to Adams's office.
"Sorry, Adams. I was thinking about something else. That diadem is putting a lot of pressure on me, and my thoughts keep drifting back to it—" William calmly fobbed him off with a pre-prepared lie.
"Oh, for goodness' sake, stop beating around the bush! I know I was careless," Adams's old face flushed, and he waved his hands blusteringly. "I'll be more careful during tomorrow's test. How long have you even been at Hogwarts?!"
William just smiled at him, saying nothing.
"Bang!"
Adams scurried back into his office in embarrassment. "See you tomorrow! I have important documents to handle!!!"
The trip to the Hospital Wing wasn't a waste. He had brought Adams, an uninvolved professor, along precisely to show him how powerful the diadem could be when it acted up. Undoubtedly, after achieving the main goal of visiting the injured student, the secondary objective was also accomplished.
'It's just so strange—why did the diadem even erase the memory of the Sorting? It can't be that Ginny Weasley is some child of destiny like Liu Xiu, finding Ravenclaw's Diadem on her very first day of school, can it?'
'But that's not right either. If she were really such a child of destiny, why wasn't she sorted into Ravenclaw?'
William shook his head and pulled a notebook from his pocket, jotting down this sudden inspiration along with the matter of Squibs. Ever since he had seen the old professor's fast-forwarded memory, he had started carrying this thing around with him.
'Time to get back to work. There's still a thick stack of notes. I'm really just making trouble for myself...'
---
"William!"
A shout came from outside the door. William, who had woken up early and was happily poring over those blasted records, was suddenly interrupted. The night before, he had finally found some interesting and useful information, reading until he was too sleepy to continue before going to bed, and had woken up early to pick it back up.
'It's only seven. That scoundrel Adams, wasn't he supposed to be reflecting on his mistakes yesterday? What's he doing this early in the morning?'
After marking his place in the records and carefully putting them back where they belonged, William ruffled his hair, blinked his eyes a few times to feign a just-woken-up look, and said, "It's so early, Adams. Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Hurry up and get ready! Something big has happened!"
Adams's tone at the doorway was unusually excited.
'Huh? Why did I mess up my hair? As long as I don't open the door, that guy can't come in—' William, a bit slow on the uptake due to lack of sleep, finally realized the uselessness of his recent actions. He popped a peppermint into his mouth in a fit of pique.
Five minutes later, having tidied up his appearance, William finally opened the office door. "What's so urgent? It's the weekend, a day for sleeping!"
"I've been up since four in the morning tending to my plants. What's a weekend?"
Adams retorted self-righteously before even stepping inside.
...
You win.
Seeing William rendered speechless, Adams leisurely strolled in and pulled a chair over with his wand.
"People from the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors are here, and so is The Daily Prophet—"
"They're here? For the diadem?"
William's mind immediately jumped to that troublesome matter.
"Of course, what else could it be for—I heard Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall almost got into an argument."
"An argument?"
William was taken aback—Professor McGonagall arguing with Dumbledore was no small matter.
"Yeah, an argument. The news about the diadem has already spread, right? The Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors want to bring The Daily Prophet along to do some kind of special feature. I don't quite get the exact title, but the point is to link the diadem to them."
Adams said this while skillfully rummaging through William's snacks.
'It's kind of like one of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons being unearthed. It's perfectly normal for the Ministry of Magic to want to ride the wave of popularity.' William processed this for a moment and roughly understood—then he started to panic. The thought was terrifying. Why was this thing given to him?
Adams, busy eating the preserved fruit, didn't notice a thing—
"The Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic offered a combined grant of fifty thousand Galleons, and Dumbledore agreed to let them come with The Daily Prophet—Professor McGonagall cornered Dumbledore for a good while over it."
Adams said with a happy grin.
'Looks like this diadem can't be destroyed now. How could I destroy it with all this commotion? Still, if it can't be destroyed, trading it for some funds for the school isn't a bad deal.'
"A fifty-thousand Galleon grant, that's a lot, isn't it? It's no small sum, even for a school—what does Professor McGonagall have to object to?"
"Professor McGonagall thinks it's too little. She's annoyed that the Headmaster agreed so readily..."
Adams struggled to swallow the preserved fruit before giving the answer, then he started laughing happily.
"Huh? I didn't hear anything about this last night—"
"The Ministry of Magic only heard the news last night. The owls were waiting first thing in the morning. I could see the flock of them from the Greenhouse—Merlin knows how many owls the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors sent with express letters."
"Whoa..." William exclaimed in amazement. "Wait, they're in that much of a hurry? They send a letter in the morning and show up before noon?"
"What else? If they wait for the students' parents to spread the news and public opinion takes shape, wouldn't the money be wasted?"
Adams replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Then how did Professor McGonagall find out?"
"Professor McGonagall was also woken up by the owls. I heard that by the time she went to check, Dumbledore had already agreed."
Adams stuffed another mouthful of preserved fruit in. "Hurry up and write your report. If you want any new equipment, you need to file for it quickly. You can submit the application once Professor McGonagall has cooled down—that's all. I'm taking the preserved fruit. I'm off to get Singeade."
(end of chapter)
