"... close relationships, mutual learning, wizards need not fear, and Muggles can benefit from magic... But I think communication isn't immediate, it's not always well-intentioned from the start, there will inevitably be setbacks, we must be more proactive in embracing the future... In this process, the old ways won't work anymore—the methods of that Voldemort are not well-received—only by uniting all feasible forces can we ensure no internal chaos."
Several professors nodded in agreement at these insights.
They had heard to some extent about Professor Bagshot's hostility towards Muggles, but from today's speech, Professor Bagshot seemed to have refined her thinking. Professor McGonagall even offered him a small plate of pastries.
"You can try this, Professor Bagshot," she said politely.
"Thank you," Bagshot said graciously. "These are thoughts that arose during my teaching process, those somewhat naive ideas also contributed to my transformation..."
A few minutes later, the professors each left to go teach their students.
Felix tried to piece together the unfinished meaning behind Bagshot's words—it was necessary because Bagshot's words were directed at him and Dumbledore, or more precisely, prepared carefully for Dumbledore.
He mentioned his previous extremist views... of course, otherwise he wouldn't have gathered the Saints to wage war against the orthodox wizarding world; then there's Muggle weapons, is that important? Perhaps just a lead-in for the next topic, a prelude to the real point: the inevitable exposure of the magical world, only by uniting all possible forces.
And the Saints... are an important force.
As the school year draws to a close, Bagshot's brief period of freedom is coming to an end. If he doesn't want to return to the cold Nurmengard for imprisonment, he must take steps to save himself. Even though Bagshot has been stable for over half a year, he is very clear about his own situation.
This half year is enough time for him to see the changes in Dumbledore over half a century.
And today, in late April, he finally brought out his chips. He was willing to accept Dumbledore's conditions and become an important force for stabilizing the wizarding world.
The question is, what will Dumbledore do?
Below the lectern, the students whispered to each other.
"Professor Harp is daydreaming again?"
"Cough, keep it down, be careful of being heard."
"Do you think the professor knows the truth?" Harry asked quietly. "Definitely," Ron said confidently, "maybe he's thinking about it right now, unfortunately, I don't understand Legilimency... what do you think, Hermione?"
"Maybe the professor is considering how to fly to the moon," Hermione said with a soft snort.
"Ha, you're becoming humorous."
Felix cleared his throat, and the students quieted down.
"I suddenly thought of the practical exam questions for this year's final exams, do you want to hear them?"
The students stared at him, somewhat bewildered.
Hermione massaged her forehead.
"If Professor McGonagall heard that, she probably wouldn't be happy."
"Who cares!" Ron said cheerfully, his face beaming with a smile, and Harry also smiled, knowing that at least he could get good grades in two subjects, one is Ancient Runes, and the other is Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Oh, right, there's also Transfiguration, he's a Metamorphmagus now.
Hermione's recent progress in Transfiguration made him envious. She always seemed adept at mastering the delicate magical control required for techniques, and apart from the necessity of using a wand, her advanced human transfiguration was almost on par with Tonks' Animagus transformations.
At this point, the students finally caught on, and one of the girls suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Professor, I love you!" The classroom erupted into laughter, the atmosphere instantly becoming lively, with several boys joining in.
"Very amusing," Felix said earnestly. "When I get back, I'll look through the cards I received on February 14th, if I don't find your names—" he nodded towards these bold students with his chin, "I'll find a chance to keep you after class."
"Let's get back on track," he said, taking a black wizard chess piece out of his pocket. "I don't mind resisting the pressure from the Ministry's Wizarding Examinations Authority, giving more than half of the students an 'Outstanding' rating, as for the criteria for 'Outstanding,' it's quite simple."
"Use the exam date as a reference point, and elevate your own proficiency to a level that satisfies me by then."
"The questions will naturally be more challenging, that's the price of knowing the exam content in advance." The rightful source is novel⸺fire.net
But the students were fixed on the knight chess piece in his hand, deliberately or unintentionally ignoring Felix's words, thinking to themselves: this is simply too good to pass up.
Felix spread out his palm, and the chess piece burst into flames, a swallow with golden-red flames appearing. The students watched in amazement as it circled above their heads, and after a while, the swallow returned to the professor's hand, transforming back into a wizard chess piece.
"Absolutely awesome," Ron exclaimed excitedly, his eyes sparkling, unable to help but murmur, "I'd trade a hundred Galleons for this, just to get my hands on such a wizard chess set. No, I'd offer two hundred!"
Harry and Hermione grinned, knowing that the professor's demonstration had hit Ron's favorite topic.
Felix continued with the class.
"You don't need to reach my level, but the approach is the same. Piece together a completely closed structure with ancient runes, while also demonstrating a certain level of magical ability—let's review the fourteenth magical law of runes."
Several students raised their hands.
"Miss Greengrass... excellent, five points to Slytherin."
"Ancient runes are combinations of magical characters with special sequences and magical functions, that is, runic sequences; this means that there are still many combinations of characters in the world that are not actually meaningful runic sequences and have no relation to ancient magic."
"Like what you've seen in practical lessons..."
Harry immediately envisioned the densely packed and intricate runes.
"Think about it, building runic symbols like stacking blocks, it can be some strange creature, a golden trophy, or a beautiful house, of course, it can also be this small chess piece in my hand... I require you to cleverly incorporate runic circuits into this process."
"For example, in her fifth year, Miss Luna Lovegood once assembled a runic fire cup with a similar function. It releases a blue flame, not very harmful, but quite interesting, isn't it? You can consider that as the threshold for 'Outstanding.'"
Hermione raised her hand to indicate.
Felix nodded towards her.
"Um—Professor? Is the chess piece in your hand also infused with runic circuits?" Hermione asked, she was too familiar with the golden flames on the swallow, it was her first mastery of ancient magic.
"Not just that," Felix smiled and said, "the construction of this chess piece is actually quite complex, it has both runic sequences and runic circuits, as well as meaningless magical characters filling positions, together they form a structurally complete individual, and finally take on the appearance you see." He addressed the whole class with his last sentence.
In fact, Felix omitted the role of memory magic, but it didn't make much difference.
"... I'm not asking you to incorporate ancient magic into it, that's too difficult, but since Miss Granger mentioned it, I'll mention it in passing, there will be extra points for anyone who achieves it."
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