Chapter 126: Professor McGonagall's Determination (Edited)

As for how Tom was able to discover Professor Lockhart's shortcomings, it was because, naturally, the great Professor Dumbledore had spotted the problem and had asked Tom to investigate, and Tom had lived up to Professor Dumbledore's expectations by successfully uncovering Lockhart's secret.

"So why did you make such a big fuss today? The whole school is in a panic. And you've become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts?"

Tom sighed, "I wrote that line, but there's nothing wrong with what it says, the heir to the Chamber of Secrets is back, he's infiltrated Hogwarts. I'm just muddying the waters, it's the only way for the fish to move and get caught by the fisherman. "

"As for the professor, I'm sure I can do better than any other Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and I passed Professor Dumbledore's interview! "

Hermione raised her long eyebrows, "Dumbledore really thought you could be a professor?" she said incredulously.

Tom clasped his hands together and said, "I'm a student, and I've suddenly become a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

All of Hermione's doubts were answered and she felt she could leave now. But before she left, she coughed a little and said that she wanted to know the results of today's exam in advance.

Naturally, Tom wouldn't bother her about it and pulled out Hermione's exam, which had been automatically corrected by the pen.

"The only perfect score so far" Tom handed Hermione's paper to her to glance at: "Many little wizards copied their answers directly, but I've changed the questions!"

Hermione was delighted: it was the only complete note all year and she was delighted.

"I just read some more," Hermione said as she put the exam paper back and headed for the door, "Good evening, my Professor Yodel."

"Good evening, Miss Granger. " Tom gestured to Hermione, who, as if remembering something, raised her wand with a smile.

"Avis!"

A flock of birds flew from the tip of her wand and rained down on Tom, sending him scurrying for cover until Hermione closed the door and transformed into a basilisk and petrified the birds.

Shortly after Tom dismissed Hermione, there was another knock at his office door.

...

The fact that "Tom" was cursed on behalf of the heir to the Chamber of Secrets caused some people in the school to panic, and the words written in red on the blackboard were at first erased, but not in everyone's mind. Many people took the words to heart.

However, the popularity of this incident did not last long, for one thing, there was no second victim, and for another, the attention of young wizards was immediately drawn to a new hot topic: Professor Sprout had given her students a set of exams in class!

Professor Sprout thought a quiz would be useful for a class like Herbology, which requires experience and memory. So last night she visited Professor Lockhart, borrowed his printer, and printed a batch of exams with Lockhart's help.

However, her aim was different, as Professor Sprout wanted her students to understand the subject better, so she developed all fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions, deliberately not changing the type of questions.

The questions were mainly about the students' knowledge of magical plants, whether they knew their characteristics, uses, and how to treat them.

For the little wizards, this was a complete "unexpected joy". In the past, only Professor Lockhart of Defense Against the Dark Arts had taken such a quick test in the classroom. Unexpectedly, Professor Sprout also began to learn. Some of the young wizards had been worried that the other professors would learn from Lockhart's methods, but they hadn't expected it to come true. What surprised them even more was that the first person to make the switch was Professor Sprout, who taught Herbology.

The good news was that Professor Sprout's quizzes were not graded, and the answers were given directly after class, so there was no pressure. But this sent a frightening signal: other professors are imitating Lockhart!

For a moment, the heir to the Chamber of Secrets was forgotten. Heir, how many could he petrify? If he were petrified, he wouldn't even have to take the exam.

But during the following days, no teacher continued to do so. The main reason was that Professors Flitwick and McGonagall's classes were special, more practical, and exams were of no use to them. In Snape's Potions class, it was necessary to have some questions to reinforce learning. But Snape hadn't printed the papers yet, he was still working on the questions! He had to design the questions for seven years on his own, and with his busy schedule, he couldn't do it in a day or two.

Professor Sprout did such a thing, and it really diverted everyone's attention away from the Chamber of Secrets at the same time.

The new week passed quickly. On Friday night, the four deans received their results for the week's Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Sprout was in shock to see the average score in her house. She had never imagined that Hufflepuff's average would exceed that of the other three Houses, and that a score of zero would not be the highest.

This kind of surprise came all too suddenly. Although Professor Sprout had said at the staff meeting that her House was likely to be at the bottom of the table, there was always a small chance that they would pass, just like the scum who say they're going to fail after exams.

And today they did.

It's hard for a teacher to feel this kind of euphoria.

The main reason the Hufflepuffs got a high average this time was their unit. At the end of the first day, all the Hufflepuff students who had sat the exams gathered in their Common Room, went over the papers and, as a group, immediately produced a set of summaries for the whole school.

In other words, while the other Houses were studying on their own, or doing a bare exam with a dodgy answer and a few words, the Hufflepuff students knew the content of the exam and had the material to study.

This is a direct hit to the other Houses. The other three Houses didn't even think about this. Gryffindor hadn't thought about it, Ravenclaw was used to studying on their own and didn't need all that fancy material, and the young wizards of Slytherin would hardly give their own review materials to anyone else.

With three Houses like that, there was a big difference in the average score between Hufflepuff and them.

Professor Sprout looked at the report card and smiled brightly. A single exam in an ordinary subject should not have elicited so much joy, but the pattern of competition between the four Hogwarts Houses had been too monotonous. They had been competing for the annual House Cup, the Quidditch Cup and, at most, a final exam. But now there's a Defense Against the Dark Arts test, and it's a great incentive for the Deans to compete.

Coupled with the fact that Hufflepuff has rarely had the honor of taking first place before, it was a real pleasure for Professor Sprout to see her entire House pull together and take first place, even if it was only a small test.

Of course, the other deans may not have been in such a good mood.

At this point, Professor McGonagall was in a frenzy: the average score was last, the bottom of the maximum, and the number of people getting zero points was the first positive number!

This time, after Monday, few would get a zero for copying Hermione's answers, everyone knew there had been a slight change in the questions. Even if they didn't know it, someone close to them would have commented on it.

In other words, after Monday, if you get a zero again, you're really bad.

In fact, the number of zero points in Gryffindor this time is largely due to the format of the exam. They are all multiple choice questions, and multiple choice questions also deduct points, which may reflect the difference in personality.

In other Houses, young wizards often skip the unsure choices, but Gryffindor lions are fierce and choose even the unsure ones, which deducts a lot of points. If you get a question wrong, you don't get the four points for the question itself, and you get two points back! They have to get one question right to make up for it, but how can they be sure they'll get the next one right?

So, Gryffindor is miserable now, with a very low average score and many zero points.

Professor McGonagall was already thinking about asking for a leave of absence, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to see Snape tomorrow.

Both Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape were in a good mood: Professor Flitwick because the only perfect grade in the whole school was in Ravenclaw, and Snape because Gryffindor had done so badly this time.

It didn't matter that Slytherin didn't come first, it was just as well that they did better than Gryffindor.

That was Snape's true attitude, and the big zero behind Potter made him feel even better.

The next day was Saturday, and Professor McGonagall reluctantly made her way to breakfast in the Great Dining Hall, not daring to make eye contact with Snape.

But he would arrive anyway.

"Granger, you did very well on your exams" Professor Flitwick initiated the conversation, and Professor McGonagall suddenly developed a keen interest in the kippers in her bowl. For those who didn't know, the animagus transformation would have affected the wizard's preferences.

"Yes, that girl is good, I think she's the only one in the whole school to get a perfect score, that's impressive, I failed a choice in that set of questions myself" Professor Sprout, who seemed to have been waiting for this for a long time, took over immediately, "She was also very active in her Herbology class before"

Professor Flitwick looked delighted, "Really? Ha, what a girl!"

"Congratulations, Hufflepuff did very well this time!"

"No, no, it's just that the average score is relatively high..."

Professor McGonagall was somewhat depressed: that girl, Hermione Granger, how good it would do her to be a student of her own House!

Professor Snape, for his part, also sneered, "Minerva, Gryffindor education, you need to catch up!"

"I know, don't worry, Severus." Replied Professor McGonagall casually, turning a very sharp glance at the young wizards at the Gryffindor house table.

She had made up her mind.