Chapter 443: “Robbing Students”

Professor McGonagall stopped in the middle of her sentence because she turned around and saw not only Sean but also Hermione, Daisy, and Stephanie. She had a slightly weird expression on her face.

She knew that Sean had always had a good relationship with them, but it was quite surprising that these three appeared behind him together. Professor McGonagall has heard a lot of “rumors” about the relationship between the students.

At present, because of Daisy Potter’s Patronus that shocked everyone, there are rumors about her and Sean. Of course, this is thanks to The Weasley twins. Hermione, who went to school and grew up with Sean, also had a lot of rumors, but it was much less than Daisy.

As for Stephanie Ollivander, Professor McGonagall has never heard of any weird rumors about her. However, she was well-known in the school, and Professor McGonagall also knew that Stephanie’s magic knowledge was exceptional, and she also mastered her grandfather’s wand-making skills.

Professor McGonagall couldn’t help sighing secretly. She put aside some little gossip in her mind and looked at Sean and the others.

“Miss Granger, what a coincidence.” Professor McGonagall took out two letters and handed them to Sean and Hermione, respectively.

Sean accepted it with some doubts, but Hermione’s doubts only lasted for a short while. After she received the letter, she seemed to remember something, and her face was slightly red with excitement.

Sean opened the letter in doubt.

[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore,

Dear Mr. Wallup, It is with pleasure that we inform you that you have been chosen to be the new Boys Prefect at Ravenclaw House from the fifth year onwards and ending at the end of the seventh year.

As a prefect, your rights and responsibilities are included in this letter. It can be summarized as the prefect’s special rights and obligations, plus some words of congratulations and encouragement.]

Sean scratched his head helplessly.

He was expected to become a prefect, and Sean was the best candidate for Ravenclaw’s next prefect. It’s just that Sean felt that he personally didn’t need this, mainly because he didn’t want to take on those responsibilities. There are quite a lot of things that the prefect has to do, which is troublesome.

He is willing to solve troubles. But for this kind of thing, he was a bit lazy about it. He glanced sideways at Hermione. She was reading the letter carefully, and the joy on her face could already be clearly seen.

With Hermione as his partner, it seems like maybe he shouldn’t have much work to do later as a prefect.

Professor McGonagall waited for both of them to finish reading the letter and said, “Congratulations, Mr. Wallup and Ms. Granger, you are now the new prefects of Ravenclaw.”

“Thank you, Professor!” Hermione responded immediately.

Sean also said a word of thanks, but he obviously didn’t look that excited.

Mrs. Wallup had already accepted Sean’s letter and looked at it. The joy and excitement on her face were like Hermione’s. She first expressed her gratitude to Professor McGonagall.

“Congratulations, I’m so proud of you, and your dad must be thinking so too.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Sean smiled gently, and his mother’s appreciation still needed to be responded to.

He looked at Professor McGonagall. As far as he knows, the prefects of the houses are generally selected by their head of the house and handed over to the principal and vice-principal for finalization.

Moreover, the appointment is usually in the form of a letter, and the professor will not make a special trip like this. Especially professor McGonagall is still the head of Gryffindor. This shows that the letter for the prefect was sent here just a formality, and there should be other things to discuss with Sean.

Professor McGonagall continued, “Becoming a prefect is a new learning path. I hope you both can work hard.”

“I will work harder, Professor McGonagall!” Hermione was completely immersed in the joy of becoming a prefect.

“Well, Ms. Granger, I’m counting on you. By the way,” Professor McGonagall changed the subject, “Mr. WAllup, can I talk to you alone?”

“Of course, Professor, this way.”

Sean led Professor McGonagall into the private room where they had just come out, then closed the door.

“Sean, it looks like you’ve been waiting for me to speak?” Professor McGonagall turned around.

Sean spread his hands, “Professor, I don’t know why you made a special trip for the letters. What is your main purpose for coming to me?”

Professor McGonagall pushed her glasses and said seriously, “There is a new position available, and Professor Dumbledore asked me to hand it over to you.”

“A new position?” Sean was taken aback for a moment, and he reacted, “The person in charge of admissions?”

He hadn’t held any position before, and now it happened to be the month for it, so he could only be the person in charge of recruiting new students.

Professor McGonagall nodded, “Professor Dumbledore and I both hope that you can serve as the head of Hogwarts admissions again. Of course, this is just a request. We hope that you accept it, but it all depends on you.”

“You have experienced a lot of things that you should not have experienced. As a professor and vice-principal, it makes me especially ashamed to let a student take the risks.”

Sean showed his smile, “Professor, please don’t think about it much. To be honest, I enjoy some adventures. I may have some Gryffindor qualities in my bones.”

Professor McGonagall smiled, “Oh, don’t mention it. It’s unfortunate that you were not assigned to Gryffindor.”

“Professor, I can accept this position, but you have to tell me the situation in the world.”

Professor McGonagall smiled when she heard Sean agree to come down and said, “Albus said that you will definitely agree to help.”

Sean spread his hands helplessly. Dumbledore must have guessed his thoughts.

“Let me first explain the current admission situation to you.”

“Okay, let’s sit down first, Professor.”

Professor McGonagall nodded and sat down, “You participated in the last admission, but it was a special case, and everything was done most efficiently and directly, but normal admission cannot be done like that anymore.”

“Sean, do you still remember when you received the admission letter?”

Sean nodded and smiled, “Of course, Professor, I will never forget that day in my life.”

Professor McGonagall also smiled when she heard the words, “I don’t know if you have noticed that it was Charlotte who came to your house at that time. Nurmengard also sent Sterling. Did you think they just happened to be there at the same time?”

Sean recalled it and said, “Charlotte came to my house first, and Sterling followed. I remember that Charlotte was very upset because Sterling had been following her all the time.”

Professor McGonagall smiled helplessly, “The two of them have always been in conflict. Hogwarts and Nurmengards admission is carried out simultaneously, as you know.”

Sean nodded thoughtfully.

“Except for a few stubborn so-called pure-blood aristocratic schools, most of the students in other schools come from Muggle families.”

“The Muggle families have never been exposed to magic before, and they don’t understand wizarding schools. This has led to the fact that no matter which school the recruiters come first, as long as they prove the existence of magic, they will certainly go to that school.”

Professor McGonagall sighed, “At first, I don’t want to trouble you with this. After all, the students of Hogwarts are basically in the UK, and other schools will not come to compete with us.”

“But since the establishment of Nurmengard, in order to quickly attract students, the whole of Europe has become their potential target, and Muggle families have become their main target. Even when Nurmengard was established, there were only 21 new students at Hogwarts, and 18 of them were from wizarding families.”

Sean smiled awkwardly.

Professor McGonagall continued, “All major schools, whether it is Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or even Koldovstoretz in Russia, have also expanded their range. Because the moment Nurmengards was one step further than anyone, they wouldn’t be left with any students later.”

“For this reason, all schools have recruited students early, and schools that lack students have also found young wizards from other areas. I heard that the original enrollment in July was continuously pushed back, even as early as June, May, etc.”

“This directly led to a confusion of the student resources from each school. Some schools recruited too many students, and the teachers and facilities could not keep up. Some schools recruit students with completely different languages so that the students can only learn foreign languages ​​during the first two years of school. Some schools have no students at all, and there are only a few students walking around in the school all day long.”

“It can be said that because of the appearance of Nurmengard, the wizarding world education condition at that time was extremely chaotic.” Professor McGonagall sighed.

“What happened after that?” Sean asked.

“Professor Dumbledore’s first thing when he became the headmaster of Hogwarts was to find Grindelwald, who was the headmaster of Nurmengard at the time, and contacted the headmasters of other schools before finally making a decision.”

“The enrollment of each school is still based on the previous range, and the scope of Nurmengard is limited to Europe and its surrounding areas. Moreover, the admissions staff of Nurmengard must cooperate with other schools when they are about to enroll new students.”

Sean realized. No wonder Charlotte and Sterling arrived together. It wasn’t a coincidence at all, but the two had cooperated together.

“The final selection of admissions has become a demonstration of the eloquence and ability of the recruiters between schools. Although it is a lot more troublesome than the initial admissions process, it is not so chaotic after all.”

“This kind of enrollment model has been maintained until now with constant adjustments. Of course, last year’s enrollment was a special situation.” Professor McGonagall shook her head helplessly.

Sean asked, “What about this year? Do we still want to rob students from other places? If we want to rob students, I have to find someone to help immediately.”

“Not this year,” Professor McGonagall said hastily, “Professor Dumbledore contacted the principals of those schools, and they have finally returned to the original enrolment process.”

Sean was about to stand up and sat down again. He nodded, “Then what should I do at this time?”

“You have to come to recruit students like Charlotte, and you also need to be responsible for coordinating the overall admissions plan. The other admissions officers, like the male and female student council and several professors, are all under your command. Also, there is another reason why I need to talk to you.”

“What?” Sean asked curiously.

Professor McGonagall smiled, “Your eloquence and ability.”

“My eloquence and ability?” Sean laughed.

Professor McGonagall nodded, “Yes, you should know that after the rise of Nurmengard, a lot of students from other schools have been stolen. Although I don’t want to admit it, I have to say that Nurmengard’s admissions officers are smarter than the ones we sent before, and they can always convince students to choose Nurmengard over Hogwarts.”

“So, you need me to convince them?”

“You know the details of the admissions process last time, so you also know that the ranges of several major schools overlap.”

Professor McGonagall pushed her glasses again, and there was an inexplicable light in his eyes, “With your eloquence and ability, I think you can get a lot of students.”

Sean touched his head, “The people sent by Nurmengard should be a professional. I’m not sure about that.”

“In my opinion, no matter how well-educated people in Nurmengard are, they are not as good as you.” Professor McGonagall replied.

“In addition, Professor Dumbledore asked me to bring you a message. He said that only you can know this.”

Professor McGonagall handed over a piece of parchment bounded by magic. The moment Sean touched it, the magic on the parchment was automatically released. Sean raised his brows in surprise.

He unfolded the parchment and saw Dumbledore’s familiar handwriting.

[Dear, Sean

Forgive me for not being able to show up directly to provide you with more help and guidance. I think you are smart enough, and you should have guessed the reasons. I’m not writing this just to apologize. Although I am eager for your forgiveness for my actions, there are more urgent and important things that I need to do right now.

I want to ask you one thing. When you receive the admissions briefing, you should be able to notice that Hogwarts’ admissions range overlaps with Durmstrang. I hope you can take all the students that can be taken away and let Durmstrang have a few students.

In addition, there are several areas that Nurmengard used in previous years, but after last year’s enrollment accident, the four major magic schools all set their eyes on them. My request to you is to recruit as many students as you can. If you can’t recruit students there, don’t let Durmstrang recruit them. Letting Beauxbatons and Nurmengard are fine.”

I am a little ashamed to make so many requests hastily, but this is important. I hope everything goes well for you.

Your faithful, Albus Dumbledore.]

There is a map under the parchment, which marks a lot of locations, basically all in Germany and Northern Europe, and the order of Durmstrang’s enrolment route is attached.

Sean was surprised. Dumbledore is too obvious; Durmstrang may have something, and he is trying to prevent them from getting any students.

“Have you finished?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“Well, I understand what Professor Dumbledore means.” Sean replied.

“Okay, I won’t beat around the bush too much,” Professor McGonagall nodded. “You can decide what Albus asked you, and the enrollment will start the day after tomorrow.”

“This is a Portkey. It could be used for you to come to Hogwarts. The situation outside is relatively tense. Professor Dumbledore himself made this Portkey.” Sean took a pair of thick wool socks that Professor McGonagall had taken out, looked them over, and put them in his arms.

“That’s all. See you at Hogwarts at eight o’clock in the morning the day after tomorrow.” Professor McGonagall said.

“Okay, professor, see you later.”

The two walked towards the door. When Sean was about to open the door, Professor McGonagall suddenly turned her head.

“Actually, there is still something.”

“Huh? What is it, professor?” Sean asked curiously.

“While a lot has happened in the past year, people are still working hard to make everything normal. Next year’s activities will continue as usual.”

Sean immediately reacted, “The Goblet of Fire? Is it going to be held later?”

“Yes,” said Professor McGonagall with a sigh, “and Nurmengard has won the last few competitions.”

“What was the question you wanted to ask just now?”

Professor McGonagall looked at Sean quietly, “I hope you can participate in it.”

Sean shook his head with a smile, “Professor, I remember the Triwizard Tournament. Oh no, it’s the Quadwizard Tournament now. You have to be an adult to participate, right? Even if the tournament is delayed for another year, I won’t be able to join. My birthday is in November, you know.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Yes, I know that. But Hogwarts only needs to show them a letter that you can participate.”