Chapter 199: The Elective Equivalent of a Required Subject (Edited)

To which courses do you want to apply? This is a good question.

The average grade depends on one's effort, but it often takes some skill to get close to a four. Some professors are sick in the head, and it's hard to fail 30% of your students, so giving them an A is like taking a life, so avoid their classes.

Tom was sure that if Potions were an elective, Professor Snape would be the least busy teacher in the school, with Professor Binns, who taught History of Magic, being the second least busy. But if Tom kept up with his exams, he would probably be third.

Hermione studied the list of new courses carefully, noting them down and ticking them off. She had consulted several seniors and had a general idea of the new curriculum.

Tom thought for a moment, "I'll definitely take Divination and Arithmancy, and I'll also take Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes."

Tom felt that he lacked effective divination methods at the moment, so some professional knowledge of divination was necessary. And Tom thought that Professor Trelawney might have some notes from her ancestor Cassandra Trelawney or something that he thought he could borrow.

The Care of Magical Creatures class, which would help Tom learn about the various magical creatures, was also necessary to gain some knowledge. As for Ancient Runes, it was for interest. Tom thought it wouldn't hurt to know some of the ancient runes of wizards, even if they were just "words" now.

"What do you think of Muggle studies?" Hermione nodded, noting that Tom had chosen four of the five classes, except Muggle Studies.

Tom: ...

"I'm a Muggle! Why would I have to take a class like this? Isn't this class for free credit?" Tom was rather dismissive of the class. Mr. Arthur, as an employee of the Department Against the Misuse of Muggle Objects, must have taken the class, but he doesn't even know how to make a phone call or take the subway!

What the hell was this class teaching? what's the point? It's a waste of time. The proper use of this class would be to focus on teaching young wizards how to dress like Muggles at certain times of the week, and then taking them on "spring outings" and "walks" to really get them into the Muggle world, instead of looking at textbooks from over a decade ago and making assumptions about the Muggle world.

"But, I'm curious what the Muggle world is like from a wizard's point of view, so why don't we take that class too?" said Hermione.

"Also?"

"Yes! Also!" Hermione picked up her quill and signed all the subjects with ease.

The advice she had received from the seniors was to choose their classes based on their plans for the future. If she wanted to work in a job with a strong Muggle connection, such as the Incident Reversal Team and the Department Against the Misuse of Muggle Objects, then Muggle Studies was the course to take, as the N.E.W.T. certificate was required to apply for the position. If the chosen career involves the outdoors, it is best to take the Care of Magical Creatures course. If the career involves archaeology, then ancient runes such as divination and arithmetic are required.

Despite this advice, Hermione had her own ideas, and she wanted to do it all! She wasn't one to chew more than she could chew, but because she needed to make her own judgments.

She felt she had to be careful with each course, as it involved a future career choice, and she couldn't rely on the words of seniors, she wanted to take a year's worth of classes herself before making her choice.

"You...," Tom said as he watched Hermione cross off five classes at once: that would mean twelve classes a term for Hermione.

"It's going to be exhausting."

"No, I'll be fine with less sleep, are you sure you don't want to take Muggle Studies?" Hermione looked up expectantly, "This way, if there's a team task, we can team up too, and we don't have to go to the trouble of finding a reliable teammate.

With group work, sometimes it's more nerve-wracking to have a stupid partner than to do it alone.

Of course, Hermione could work alone on all the tasks the teachers gave her, but... if she could do it with Tom, why not?

"Besides, it'll be a lot easier for me if you help me. Of course, it's fine if you don't want to, I can work with someone else..."

Tom looked at Hermione's eyes, which seemed to be talking, and decided it was almost too good a request to turn down, so his hand followed Hermione uncontrollably as he ticked five boxes on the application form.

"Actually..." he said haltingly after signing off, "There's no need for you to take Divination, I don't think you and Professor Trelawney get along very well. It's a class that really requires talent."

"But you signed up for it too!".

"Because I have a real talent for Divination." said Tom weakly, as if remembering something unpleasant.

Hermione: ???

"Then make a prophecy for me!" She said with an angry.

"I predict that you will leave Muggle Studies and Divination after third year" Tom said.

"Hmph!" Hermione rolled her eyes, but at the same time made up her mind to never drop those two classes and annoy Tom. Hermione believed there was no class she couldn't attend.

As she put away her list, she glanced into Tom's office and was drawn to the piles of parchment.

"What are these?" Hermione walked over to the pile of parchments, resisted the urge to grab them, and turned to Tom to ask.

"The exams for after Easter."

Hermione's look became complex for a moment, she really was super anxious to see him! Tom sensed Hermione's desire and was amused.

Hermione looked at the papers and felt conflicted: she didn't want Tom to give her the answers to the exam, she just wanted to do the series of questions in advance.

The exams, for Hermione, were a deadly temptation. Exams, the test of her learning, were like a lottery prize, and she was obsessed, addicted, and unable to stop.

She looked at Tom with a longing look in her eyes, waiting for him to invite her to take an "internal" test, to see if the difficulty was up to par, if there were any controversial questions, and to test herself and see if there were any problems in her work.

But it was as if Tom had suddenly gone blind, unable to see what was in Hermione's mind and ignoring her eyes. Hermione was a little anxious, hesitated for a while and finally said in a voice no louder than a gnat's, "That paper... can I take it and do it?"

Tom looked up, "What did you say? I didn't hear you."

Hermione's face flushed instantly, coloring her pale cheeks with a hint of red, and she raised her voice, "I, I want to...do that test set..."

"Oh-" Tom interrupted, "Is that the test set?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well, why should I give you this test set?"