Elective Courses

After the Lantern Festival, life became somewhat dull for the young wizards of Hogwarts, especially compared to the lively atmosphere before.

But Adam could not exactly take them all through Qingming Festival and hold a ritual for their ancestors in the void at Hogwarts, could he?

Of course, he could still sell qingtuan and fried dough twists as usual.

Amid that dreary atmosphere, the eagerly anticipated Easter holiday arrived, which also meant the second-year students could choose their electives for the following year.

"Hmm… there are so many courses. How should I choose?"

Klon munched on one of Adam’s Easter eggs while agonizing over the course selection form.

Divination, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies. In theory, every student had to choose at least two in order to earn enough credits, and could choose up to three as long as the schedules did not conflict.

"Divination doesn’t seem very reliable… How about Care of Magical Creatures? I think I’m fairly familiar with that. Then Muggle Studies? Anything I don’t know, I can ask Bernard…"

Muttering to himself, Klon nodded and made up his mind, ready to tick the boxes for Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies.

"My advice is not to choose Muggle Studies."

Adam, who was eating an Easter egg, could not help speaking up.

Adam had made the insides of the eggs into oversized planet cups and conjured all sorts of painted patterns onto their shells. They sold extremely well within Hogwarts, and some young wizards had even bought them to send to their parents.

"Based on the wizards’ books about Muggles, I can guarantee that what wizards know about Muggles has almost nothing to do with real Muggles."

As he spoke, Adam ticked the four subjects other than Muggle Studies.

"And Divination—according to the older students—is an absolute joke of a class. Professor Trelawney gives every student whose gruesome death she predicts a pretty good grade~"

"Ah?!"

Klon’s eyes widened. This was nothing like the Divination he had imagined.

"Isn’t the Divination exam supposed to judge who makes the most accurate predictions?"

"But how could that be assessed? Divination is an extremely uncertain thing. Some prophecies come true immediately, while others take ten or even decades to be fulfilled. Besides, people with genuine talent for divination are exceedingly rare. The purpose of Divination class is merely to uncover that tiny minority. They can’t exactly fail everyone else, can they?"

"That’s true, but…"

Uther had somehow appeared behind Adam. He blinked at Adam’s selection form.

"Adam, why did you choose four courses? What if the class times conflict?"

"The instructions never said we couldn’t choose four courses, did they? I’m sure Hogwarts will find a solution when the time comes."

Adam smiled faintly and put away his selection form.

He had been coveting a Time-Turner for a long time. The facts had proven that time-related magic was simply far too complex. Adam occasionally took out the Time Card and the Wrath Card to study their magic, but he had never managed to find the way in.

Hopefully, the wizards’ Time-Turner would let him experience and study time magic from another perspective.

If he could master time magic, then with the Sorcerer’s Stone as an energy source, Adam could truly be called prudent and secure, truly foolproof. Especially since this world’s rules of time were somewhat Schrödinger-like—only things personally observed were fixed. Otherwise, going back to the past really could change the future!

There were too many deaths Adam had not personally witnessed. Although they had left no trace whatsoever over the years, who could say for certain that those people were truly dead?

Unaware of Adam’s ambitions and inner thoughts, the remaining roommates were still agonizing over their electives. After pondering for a long time, Bernard chose the same courses as Klon.

"Other than Divination being easy to pass, Care of Magical Creatures is the only one I’m interested in. Besides, I’ll have someone with me."

After ticking his choices, Bernard high-fived Klon across the little round table.

Uther swapped Care of Magical Creatures for Ancient Runes. Considering his strength, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, Eugene agonized over it for a while before ultimately giving up Care of Magical Creatures and choosing the same course as Uther.

"Huh? Is no one choosing three electives?"

Adam sighed as he looked at the final selection forms of the four others.

"Who chooses four electives…?"

Faced with his roommates’ stares, Adam shrugged.

There was no need to mention that Divination was a complete joke. Arithmancy was just mathematics—could it possibly be harder than university advanced calculus? If it was not about studying the magic of numbers, then at most it would be probability theory. He was a man who could pass real analysis in one go!

For Care of Magical Creatures, he had the aura of The Love protecting him. And he had already taught himself most of Ancient Runes through Nicolas Flamel’s notes during his spare time…

Four electives? Easy peasy~

"Really, it’s best to choose subjects related to your future plans. That way, your future diploma will look better too."

Adam offered the reminder, but then he thought about the career paths of this group…

There was no need to mention Uther. He would be the future Minister of the Egyptian Ministry of Magic, the next Pharaoh in all but name.

Klon would definitely inherit the family business as well. He had heard that the Magical Menagerie in Hogsmeade had been passed down through several generations. The connections accumulated over generations, along with stable supply and demand relationships, meant Klon could earn the same income as his parents without changing a thing.

Of the four, only Eugene and Bernard might have uncertain futures.

At that, Adam and the other two looked curiously at Eugene and Bernard.

"My future… I’m not really sure. Maybe I’ll write books at home? Or do some business? My family vault already has enough money for me to squander over several lifetimes, so I can take my time deciding."

Eugene spoke uncertainly.

"Uh, I want to stay in the Wizarding World and develop my career there, but my understanding of it isn’t deep enough yet for me to plan a future career direction."

Bernard was not very certain either. Unlike Eugene, who was completely unconcerned, he examined his selection form once more.

"But now that you mention it, Adam, why did you choose these four courses? Do they have anything to do with your shop?"

After asking in confusion, Klon suddenly grew nervous.

"You haven’t changed your mind, have you? You’re not planning to open the shop anymore?"

As soon as he said that, all four of them looked at Adam with sudden concern.

"How could that be? I’ll definitely open a restaurant in Hogsmeade. When the time comes, I’ll still buy supplies from you~"

Adam reassured Klon.

"Speaking of which, you chose four electives. Setting aside whether you’ll have time to attend class, will you still have the time and energy to open a shop?"

At that moment, Eugene’s words made Adam freeze.

That was right. While the four courses posed no academic pressure for Adam, there was still the issue of time! He still had homework to do. He could not exactly run a shop on one side while a Quick-Quotes Quill scribbled away on parchment on the other, could he? That would be miserable!

Emmm…

He had considered it before whenever he got busy, but had he really reached the point where he needed to put it into practice so soon…?

"Bernard, Eugene, since neither of you has figured out what you want to do in the future…"

Adam looked at the two of them.

"Why don’t you consider becoming assistant store managers for me?"