The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 340: Not Here
Anthony arrived at the classroom a little earlier than usual, and was satisfied to find that Umbridge was indeed not waiting outside the door. Students walked into the classroom one after another, with heavy hearts and wandering eyes, and only managed to smile when greeting Anthony.

As the exams approached, more and more students became restless. People kept visiting Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick, just to hear them say "I think you'll be fine." Some particularly frustrated students even knocked on Professor McGonagall's door. Lockhart was very happy to give these confused students some life advice, but fewer and fewer people were willing to listen to him talk for hours. The cabinets in the school hospital were filled with various anxiety-relieving potions, placebos that had no effect, or "Buffy Brain Stimulants" waiting to be tested for their ingredients. Snape was furious in Potions class because a large number of rabbit feet in the common potion material storage cabinet suddenly disappeared, and then magically appeared in students' backpacks, pockets, and pencil cases.

Professors no longer assigned more homework or papers, but Anthony still saw many students secretly flipping through textbooks on Herbology or History of Magic, or padding a piece of parchment under their Muggle Studies notes, hastily writing down the cultivation conditions of jumping toadstools and the location of a certain year's International Wizarding Conference. While completing the review questions, several students sitting in the corner whispered to each other questions related to spell theory, and some of the answers were so bad that Anthony couldn't help but want to correct them.

"Would you please shut up?" Claire Tilly turned her head sharply and said loudly.

She is a fifth-year Hufflepuff this year. Anthony heard that Professor Trelawney had advised her to "beware of yellow-brown quills", and since then he has been troubled by the color of his and his classmates' stationery and has been upset all day.

Ian Williams shrugged, muttered an "excuse me," and stuffed a thick Charms notebook back into his bag.

Midgen patted Claire's arm soothingly. Claire took a deep breath and glanced at Ian irritably: "There are still people here who want to learn Muggle Studies in the Muggle Studies class."

“Thank you, Miss Tilly,” Anthony said. “And thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Williams. I’ll be going over the test in five minutes.”

Five minutes later, Anthony began to tell the students which chapters these questions were related to and which aspects of knowledge the question-setting team seemed to be more inclined to test. At this moment, Claire suddenly sobbed.

Midgen, who was sitting next to her, realized it immediately and reached out to hold Claire in his arms. Anthony was startled and quickly walked over and asked softly what happened. Students who were reviewing other subjects also raised their heads and stretched their necks to look over here. Several students even stood up, and there was a sound of tables and chairs moving in the classroom.

"It's too stressful, Professor." Midgen patted Claire and explained to Anthony in a low voice, "We had a review class for Charms this morning, and Professor Flitwick was not very happy with us."

On Claire's desk was the test they had just completed, with a big "T" crossed out in green ink by Claire. She had used so much force that the paper had been partially scratched, revealing the smooth, dark brown wooden surface underneath.

"I'm never going to pass this exam!" Claire sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry, Professor Anthony, I'm so sorry. I've screwed up! I really can't learn this stuff... I love Muggle Studies... but I'm never going to pass!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Miss Tilly." Anthony reached out from under her arm and pulled the answer sheet out - Claire sobbed sadly - and deciphered her repeatedly crossed-out answers. "Forgot the denomination of the coin, no big deal... The conversion is correct, even the goblins at Gringotts won't have a problem with that... The train and the subway are not the same thing, but your answers are not too far off... The bus part was very good..." He put the paper down. "I don't see why you can't pass."

"Really?"

"I have no reason to lie," Anthony said.

He looked around and saw Ian nervously fiddling with a corner of his answer sheet, rolling it up and smoothing it out again and again; his deskmate continued to read "Spell Achievement" under the table, seemingly indifferent to anything except the principles of the Silencing Spell. Several students looked at Claire with a sad expression of sympathy, and a few others looked a little impatient.

"Don't be so depressed, everyone." Anthony looked out the window and smiled. "Well, I guess it's okay to change the teaching plan at the last minute. Everyone, pack your things - including you, Mr. Snowpierce."

The student in the corner looked up suddenly from a three-inch, beautifully illustrated herbology notebook and looked at Anthony, then at his classmate who was packing up his books, then at the clock.

Anthony shook his head in amusement, telling him not to panic, then gestured for him to sweep the things piled on the table into his bag like the classmates around him did.

After everything was stuffed into the bag - ink bottle, quill, parchment, Potions notes, Herbology specimens, suspicious brown powder, Roger the snake, the hedgehog that was somehow stolen to practice Transfiguration, half a piece of toast to feed the hedgehog, the amulet wrapped around the hair, Lockhart's handwritten letter of encouragement, and so on and so forth - Anthony also put away his lesson plans.

"Now," he turned to the students who were staring at him and opened the classroom door, "let's sneak out."

"What?" Anne Scott, a fifth-year Ravenclaw, questioned.

"Let's sneak out." Anthony repeated, looking into the corridor. There was no Filch, no Umbridge. "It looks good, let's go."

……

The students still looked dazed as they sat down on the grass. The bright sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves, onto their heads, faces, and confused expressions. A few tits jumped up and down between the branches above their heads, and suddenly flew away nimbly. The warm Scottish May wind swept through the green mountains and across the sparkling black lake, causing the wizard's robe to sway slightly.

"What are we going to do, Professor Anthony?" Claire asked. Her eyes were a little red and swollen, but she looked much more energetic. "We are going to solve a very important problem in the Muggle Studies exam." Anthony said, "That is how to relieve anxiety."

"Moderator." A student beside him immediately said nervously, "Sequence, proportion and stirring, the temperature must be carefully observed, the moonstone must be ground into powder, otherwise the crucible will be ruined. White steam rises..."

"Silver-white steam," another student corrected.

"Also pay attention to the difference between clockwise and counterclockwise," Annie said, looking very interested. "Who made up this formula?"

"I don't know. I saw it on the common room wall."

"That's really nice."

Anthony agreed, "That's great, but I'm not referring to all this complicated and sophisticated Potions knowledge. What I want to tell you is that OWLs, at least the OWLs in Muggle Studies, may not be as important as many of you think."

Ian asked painfully, "Are you trying to comfort us not to get discouraged by failing, Professor Anthony? So long in advance?"

"No, I'm pretty confident that you'll all pass." Anthony opened his bag and pulled out a pack of Bibi Every Flavour Beans and tore it open. "Of course, that's assuming no one suddenly decides to give up the test, or does something stupid - like cheat, but I'm just as confident that you won't do that." He stuffed a bean into his mouth and passed the rest to the student next to him.

"But, Professor Anthony, the OWLs exam is so important." Claire said, her voice trembling again, "If I don't get the certificate, I won't be able to find a job..."

The bushes beside them shook, and as the students watched, a squirrel popped out, picked up a fallen bean, hopped up a tree trunk, and disappeared into the shadows of leaves and branches.

"I would say it depends on what kind of job you want to do, Miss Tilly. Of course, having more OWLs does mean that you are more likely to have more options, but they definitely cannot determine what your future will be like." Anthony saw someone open his mouth to say something, "For example, I heard that Muggle Liaison's job promotion materials require OWLs in Muggle Studies, but in fact they recruit many Muggle-born wizards who have never taken this course, not to mention myself-"

The student's mouth closed and his eyes suddenly lit up with curiosity and anticipation.

"I'm sure many of you know that I didn't receive any magical education at Hogwarts," Anthony said. "So, yes, I don't have any certificates. I'm not proud of that, but I'm not ashamed of it either. What I'm saying is - well, Professor Trelawney might have other ideas - the future is unpredictable.

"Ten years ago, if someone had told me that I would be a professor at a wizarding school, teaching wizards how to live without magic, I would have said that person had quite an imagination. But here I am, eating every-flavored beans on the lawn," he tasted a muddy one and had to swallow it without chewing it, "next to a group of smart and friendly students."

Several people smiled at his words.

Anthony chose his words carefully: "I'm not going to say that exams like OWLs have no impact on your future, that would be a complete lie, but it's not the only thing that affects your future.

"At least, in my Muggle Studies class, test scores can be said to be one of the least important things, on par with owl food and colorful bubble ink. Rather than letting you feel anxious and bored when you see the questions, I hope you can remain friendly and curious about the Muggle world. Whether it's a zoo or a pet rescue center, whether it's a botanical garden or a chocolate factory, I hope you have fun here in Muggle Studies."

"We did have a lot of fun," Midgen said. "By the way, Professor Anthony, I took Catherine III to visit the pet rescue center during Christmas, and it happened to be open. Ms. Howard said my cat is very healthy and weighs more than three pounds."

"Excellent," said Anthony, who sometimes saw Midgen's tortoise-shell cat at school. He saw that the cat had eaten at least a dozen mice, several plates of sausages, countless cat food, and weighed at least four pounds.

He looked at the students again. "Finally, although I haven't taken OWLs, I have experienced many other exams. I have always had good luck guessing questions, so relax. All of you will be fine. I promise in the name of... coconut sorbet."

Now everyone laughed.

Anthony also smiled: "Okay, get out of class is over. Here is a bag of bubble gum for you to take back. Try to be happy. Get more sunshine."

(End of this chapter)