"Muggle Studies."
When Harry asked about choosing between Arithmancy and Muggle Studies, Sherlock replied without lifting his head.
Harry then turned to Hermione. "What about you? Coming with us?"
"I, I'm taking all—oh, I'll go to Muggle Studies with you."
"This class should be very interesting for you all. See you in Herbology!"
"Alright. But Ron, what are you planning to do while we're in class?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going back to the dormitory for a nap."
"If that's the case, you didn't need to get up in the first place!"
"Come on, mate, you wouldn't want me to skip breakfast, would you?"
"Well... alright. So, Sherlock, we—where's Sherlock?"
"Over there!"
Following Hermione's pointing finger, Harry and Ron saw Sherlock intercepting Professor Lupin, saying something to him.
"What does he want with Professor Lupin?" Ron asked, puzzled.
"Good question, because I want to know too."
"Hey, you little—I've noticed you're getting more and more this term—"
"Stop it, you two. Sherlock's coming back."
Hermione stopped them, then asked curiously. "Sherlock, what did you want with Professor Lupin?"
"Discussed the teaching plan for this course with Professor Lupin."
Hearing Sherlock's answer, Hermione became even more curious.
"You just discussed this topic with Hagrid yesterday, and today you went to Professor Lupin about the same thing?"
"I just informed him about the serious lag in the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum progress at school."
Sherlock shrugged, "Since we started school, every term's Defense Against the Dark Arts progress has fallen behind to varying degrees due to teacher issues.
First-year Quirrell only taught theory without practice. Second-year Lockhart did teach practice, but the effective teaching time each class was actually only one-fifth.
This way, Professor Snape, who substituted for them, was actually more effective. Unfortunately, Professor Snape's teaching philosophy differs too much from others.
If he had taught this course from the beginning it would have been fine, but joining midway always clashes with others' styles."
"Sherlock, it seems you really think highly of Professor Lupin!"
"Our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class isn't until Thursday, so I asked students from other years for information first.
Gemma told me Professor Lupin explained the Unforgivable Curses in the seventh-year curriculum.
Diggory told me Professor Lupin brought a Dementor and gave them a practical lesson.
By the way, he's now become Hufflepuff's Quidditch captain and has reorganized a new lineup—he'll be a strong opponent in this competition.
All students who've had his classes think Professor Lupin is the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor they've encountered."
Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry and Hermione naturally felt convinced.
Especially Harry, who was already somewhat impatient to see what Thursday would bring.
As for the upcoming Muggle Studies class, he didn't care about it at all.
After all, although his parents were both wizards, essentially, he was no different from Sherlock and Hermione—they were all Muggle-raised.
So, taking Muggle Studies was like catching snails with three fingers—a sure thing.
In his view, this was the only course where he could confidently get a certificate in fifth year.
But he never expected that after taking this class, he would discover he was wrong.
Not just wrong, but completely wrong.
Speaking of which, their first-year Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell, had taught Muggle Studies before 1991.
At that time, he hadn't yet been possessed by Voldemort.
According to upperclassmen who had taken his classes, Quirrell's teaching of this course could be described as barely adequate.
After all, this was originally a theory-oriented course, well-suited to Quirrell's teaching style.
Of course, after he became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, it was needless to say.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was thrown into tremendous turmoil, with Voldemort coming to give the Lion King and the Boy Who Lived practical lessons at the end of two consecutive terms.
The teacher who replaced Quirrell to continue teaching Muggle Studies was Professor Charity Burbage.
This respected witch devoted her life to eliminating racial discrimination, viewing Muggles positively, and opposing restricting magic to pure-blood wizards.
It was precisely for this reason that she accepted Dumbledore's invitation to become Hogwarts' Muggle Studies professor.
Her purpose was to educate wizards about Muggle knowledge, ensuring they could integrate, when necessary, by understanding how Muggles operated.
Seeing the students who came to take Muggle Studies, Professor Burbage frowned and sighed.
"As I expected, there are still no Slytherin students this year."
In fact, not only were there no Slytherin students.
The other three houses also didn't have many students choosing this course.
Apart from students like Sherlock who wanted to experience every course, and Hermione who wanted to earn 12 certificates, other students were just following the crowd.
After all, in the wizarding world, wizards like the Weasley family who actively sought to understand Muggles were ultimately a minority.
As for Muggle-born wizards and half-bloods, since they grew up in Muggle families, few chose this course either.
Even if they did, it was for one of the three reasons mentioned above.
Thus, this became the only third-year course where students from all houses attended together.
"Regardless, I'm still very glad you chose this course."
Professor Burbage's frown relaxed, and a kind smile appeared on her face.
"Now, let me see your level."
She waved her wand, and over thirty test papers flew onto everyone's desks.
"Don't worry, it's just a small test. Even if you score zero, it won't cost your house points. I'll give you thirty minutes."
Hearing Professor Burbage's words, Harry couldn't help but feel startled.
This scene was so similar to when Professor Lockhart conducted a small test in the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of second year that Harry couldn't help but feel like he was back in '92.
That time and place, just like this time and place.
'Could it be so similar?'
However, when he looked down at the test paper, Harry found there were differences between the two.
Except for the last few questions on Professor Lockhart's paper being somewhat normal, most of the content was simply indescribable.
Better not mentioned.
Professor Burbage's test paper looked much more normal.
1. What is a Muggle?
2. Muggle technology develops rapidly. Compared to the Hogwarts Express, what is the power source for most Muggle trains nowadays?
3. When walking from cold outdoors into a warm room, glasses fog up. Please explain this phenomenon.
...........
15. In the Muggle world, how long did the Hundred Years' War between England and France last?
16. Which country's people invented Arabic numerals?
17. In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
18. What is the black box on an airplane, and what color is it?
19. How many Industrial Revolutions occurred in Muggle history, and what were their contents?
20. Briefly describe the content of the Pythagorean theorem.
Twenty questions in total, progressing from simple to difficult, from singular to complex, covering almost every aspect of Muggle life.
Especially the last few questions even had the feel of exam questions from Muggle schools for the same age group.
Of course, in Sherlock and Hermione's eyes, these questions were still somewhat simple.
After all, it asked about the Pythagorean theorem, not Fermat's Last Theorem, propositions that hadn't been proven yet.
Most students started smoothly, but slowed down halfway through.
By the last few questions, they were deep in thought.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Sherlock and Hermione worked steadily from beginning to end without hesitation.
After both finished their papers, they even smiled at each other.
Especially Hermione, whose eyes were full of confidence.
This time, she would definitely outdo Sherlock!
After all, she clearly understood that Sherlock's learning philosophy was to learn what was useful and ignore what wasn't.
Although some events in the past two years had made him abandon his initial approach of completely refusing to learn without understanding, Hermione was still very confident about this.
The content of this paper was truly extensive.
In Hermione's view, some knowledge belonged to the "meaningless" category for Sherlock, which he wouldn't necessarily understand.
Not only that, several questions had obvious misleading elements. Even Hermione herself almost got trapped, but fortunately discovered the tricks in the questions and successfully avoided them.
But Sherlock might not necessarily do so. He never paid attention to these things.
The thirty minutes passed quickly.
When time was up, Professor Burbage waved her wand, and all papers flew back into her hands.
Then, like Professor Lockhart, she began grading on the spot.
"Professor Lockhart is her idol," Sherlock suddenly said.
"Ah, why?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Probably a shared ideal—"
Sherlock shook his head slightly.
Gilderoy Lockhart's only commendable character trait was his positive attitude toward Muggles.
His wish for all wizards to coexist peacefully with Muggles was even affirmed by the young Voldemort who had controlled his soul.
This professor in front of them was obviously the same.
As for her current method of testing students' basic level, only Lockhart had used it before. It could probably be considered kindred spirits to some degree.
Professor Burbage graded quickly while commenting.
"As I expected, most students who chose this course have some understanding of Muggles and the Muggle world.
Among these twenty questions, basic, medium-difficulty, and difficult questions are in a 7:2:1 ratio, so most students can answer the first ten correctly.
However, why do some still think Muggle trains are also powered by coal?"
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