Chapter 5 - 5 Finalized

In the Headmaster's office, silence once again reigned.

After a long time, Dumbledore seemed to come back to his senses and he had already made up his mind.

Dumbledore weighed his words, "I'm sorry, Felix, Professor Burbage has not thought of retiring ..."

Felix wore a disappointed expression.

"But," Dumbledore began quickly, "I can see that you are very good in ancient Magic texts."

"Yes, Headmaster." Felix thought of something and held back the flicker of hope that had risen in his heart as he looked at Dumbledore with dull eyes.

The old man in front of him did not deliberately play coy and stated his thoughts straightforwardly, "I would like you to teach Ancient Magic, I wonder if you are willing?"

"Of course I do!" Felix blurted out and then slowed down: "Yes, I do. But, Professor Babbling ..."

"Ah, Bathsheda," Dumbledore seemed to mutter with a lament before explaining, "she has been in service at Hogwarts for over fifty years, and for the past few years she has been hoping to take a sabbatical for a while to see how the world has changed."

"A sabbatical? Are you suggesting that I should fill in for the Ancient Magical Texts class temporarily as a substitute? Is it for an academic year? Or a semester?" Felix frowned slightly, this was not what he wanted.

Hogwarts was too rich in books, and becoming a professor at the school would come with many advantages. He didn't want just a year and a half, but a minimum of five to ten years, at least, right?

Dumbledore was amused, his silvery beard fluttering as he pointed out with a straight face, "Felix, Professor Babbling is not a mere wizard, she has a magical bloodline which allows - she sees time differently than we do."

Some other bloodline? Felix recalled Professor Babbling's appearance, which seemed to have remained unchanged from the time he enrolled until he graduated ...

Could it be because she was of mixed blood? A mix of another humanoid race?

It was possible, there was no shortage of them in the magical world, the most common hybrid races were humans with giants, dwarves, and elves. As far as he knew, there was more than one in the school.

Before he could come to a conclusion, he heard Dumbledore speak, " As far as Professor Babbling is concerned, it is not unusual for her to take a sabbatical of ten or twenty years. In fact, when she complained to me about the lack of sabbaticals, she recommended a few candidates to replace her, and among them, there was you, Felix."

It dawned upon Felix that he had a pretty good relationship with this professor; although he had been unable to take Ancient Magic in his sixth or seventh year, he had always consulted her during his subsequent self-study and had never stopped writing to her even after graduation.

Apart from Dumbledore, the only professor who kept in touch with him after graduation was Professor Babbling.

Professor Dumbledore added: "Your presence here will make Professor Babbling very happy, she has so many desires to fulfil over the years that she has almost filled a scroll with parchment."

Felix, of course, nodded his head in agreement at the prospect of such a nice offer.

As he walked out of the headmaster's office, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief. Finally, he had returned to this place again.

Hogwarts, the centre of the British wizarding world. This time, as a professor.

He returned to Professor McGonagall's office to see a phoenix patron saint dissipate, and it dawned on him that Dumbledore had informed Professor McGonagall of the result through the patron saint.

Sure enough, Professor McGonagall raised her glasses, "I have received a message from Dumbledore, Felix, no, I should call you Professor Hap from now on."

"You can still call me Felix, I will always be your student."

Professor McGonagall grunted slightly, "Professor Snape won't be happy about this."

Felix scratched his head, he had made Snape very angry back then. McGonagall quickly skipped the subject, and with a wave of her wand, a dozen pieces of parchment flew out of a large cabinet in her office, smoothed into a neat stack, showing the stern and serious nature of its owner.

"These are your class schedules, student lists, obligations, and privileges. Supplies, and anything else I personally think you'll need for the class. The most urgent question, of course, is whether your textbooks need to be changed?"

"Textbooks?" Felix was slightly puzzled.

"That's right, the textbooks." McGonagall repeated, "Many professors have their own teaching philosophies, and Hogwarts encourages this in principle, so they can decide for themselves how they teach their lectures, the ratio of theories to practicals, and of course, the selection of the teaching materials."

McGonagall gave him a look, "I learned that you also wrote a book about ancient Magic texts."

Felix understood, considering for a moment, but he decided not to change. "Professor Babbling's textbook is just perfect, I got a lot out of it when I was in the school."

"All right." Professor McGonagall seemed unconcerned by this move, but Felix heard her mutter something softly which was too quiet for him to hear, but it seemed to involve another professor.

"If only ... professors could be like that ..."

It wasn't nice for Felix to ask, as a budding professor, he didn't want to make more trouble before he officially hired.

As a Slytherin, he has a very strong sense of purpose in his behaviour.

Halfway through the day, Professor McGonagall looked up at Felix, who was not budging, and said, "Professor Hap, you can go now. We will send you a formal letter of appointment and entry date in the post, and if there is any additional information, it will also be enclosed."

Felix smiled, "Professor McGonagall, I would like some more time to prepare. As you know, I am still very young, although I have little experience in the field of magic, and I have no relevant experience in teaching; you are very experienced in this field, and I would greatly need your guidance in this regard."

I don't know if it is an illusion or not, but Felix noticed that Professor McGonagall seemed to smile a little, or of course, it could have been a twitch at the corner of her lips, as they say that people who are always stone-faced are prone to have a facial paralysis.

Felix's mind was spinning with nonsensical thoughts.

"Felix, you're always so polite." McGonagall seemed impressed, And politely ceased her work at hand, "What do you want to know?"

"I'd like to start by looking at student information, such as academic results, the number of students in each year at each house, some of the best or very famous young wizards, and it would be nice to have a review of each of them."

Professor McGonagall gave him a look and waved her wand silently, the door of the large cupboard opened with a crack, and out of it flew a flurry of parchment scrolls, Felix hastily pulled out his wand and with a flick of it, one quill on the table turned into a long table.

Professor McGonagall responded and stacked the scrolls on the table, "Excellent Transfiguration."

"I couldn't have done it without your teaching," Felix said humbly.

"I remember your first three years, you didn't get a lot of credit for Transfiguration."

Felix was a bit embarrassed, as he was so busy fighting the little snakes in Year 7 that he didn't even have enough time to practise his magic spells every day, so he didn't have time to focus on Transfiguration, which was more or less the same.

It was only later that he picked up Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall didn't dwell on his grades because she was well aware of Felix's situation at the time and, to be honest, she had always had a problem with the use of the Sorting Hat for sorting and had always believed, for a long time, that Felix should have been sorted into Gryffindor.

For all his reckless, ahem, bravery, who would believe that he isn't a Gryffindor!

Even among the young lions, he's the most reckless one!

"Here's the information you asked for, but there's no evaluation. About some of the best little wizards, I can only stand by my side and name some from the Gryffindor House."

"That's useful too." Felix wasn't picky.

"Oliver Wood and Percy Weasley in the sixth year, Arya Spinnet and Angelina Johnson in the fourth year, Hermione Granger in the second year," then McGonagall pursed her lips, "and of course the Weasley twins, Fred and George, for goodness' sake, if they put half of their Mischief efforts on their studies ..."

"Is that all? I remember the famous Harry Potter attending too, isn't he in Gryffindor?" Felix was somewhat curious, the name had thundered through him in his past and present life.

"Harry ...." I could see that the name was entangling her even more.