Even Adam Had Things He Wasn’t Good At

"What’s wrong with that?"

Adam shrugged.

"Putting aside your other grades, aren’t you confident in Divination?"

"Even though it feels like you’re praising me, the first half of that really wasn’t necessary…"

Amon’s eye twitched. You brat, and you still claimed you had nothing to do with Hogwarts’s insane exams!

"By the way, how did you know about my grades?"

"Hmm… perhaps I heard the House-elves talking about them in the kitchen?"

Amon’s eyelid twitched. Only a ghost would believe that!

Still, what Adam had said… was indeed worth considering. The employment situation was vastly different from before.

Logically speaking, after Voldemort’s rampage, the Wizarding World should have been in dire need of rebuilding, and the job market should have been booming. That was indeed the case, but in Amon’s eyes, that prosperity was nothing more than a hollow bubble.

Ever since Adam had bought Hogsmeade and half of Diagon Alley, the future of many industries had become unclear. Not to mention that the Ministry of Magic seemed to be planning some major moves as well. Who knew whether someone hired now might be fired again within a few months?

Even Amon’s own divinations for himself had been a complete mess, which was why he had hesitated ever since graduating.

Teaching at Hogwarts… wasn’t impossible. At the very least, it was stable and safe, and he was familiar with the environment. Besides, although students were under increasing academic pressure these days, the professors’ lives had become much easier.

Watching Amon think it over, Adam silently nodded. Even though Divination professors were now in desperately short supply, the job truly was no more demanding than that of other professors.

After all, if students had no talent for Divination, studying it would at most broaden their horizons. Naturally, they would not have much academic pressure or many assignments.

Even if Professor Trelawney wanted otherwise, Professor McGonagall would not allow it.

That was also one of the reasons Adam intended to remove Divination from basic education. Divination was an elective, after all, and not everyone took it. Otherwise, a terrifying situation like, "Your Professor Trelawney is sick and on leave," would appear at Hogwarts.

Although Adam wanted Hogwarts students to spend more time studying, he did not want such dregs to spread through Hogwarts either.

Amon made his decision before long.

"No problem. I can teach at Hogwarts whenever you need me. I’ll just wait for your invitation."

"You won’t regret today’s decision."

Adam smiled faintly, raised his Dream, and said to Amon,

"Then… cheers?"

Enjoying delicious food after discussing business was so reassuring. Amon likewise raised his Dream to clink glasses with Adam, then took a sip.

In an instant, Amon’s eyes widened.

"Enjoy it. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first."

As he spoke, Adam immediately stood up. He needed to see whether things were going smoothly on Bernard’s end.

"Wait!"

Recovering from the shock of the Dream, Amon fortunately had not forgotten the important matter and voiced his question.

"Since I’m practically half a Hogwarts professor now, can you tell me what exactly your job at Hogwarts is?"

Working in the kitchen or something… impossible. Absolutely impossible!

Adam smiled faintly, transformed into Gandalf, then Apparated away, leaving behind only Amon, who gasped in shock and took another drink of Dream to calm himself.

"You can’t do this!"

The moment Adam arrived, he heard that roar. Turning his head, he saw a silver-haired witch shouting from the defendant’s stand. It was clear that she had once lived a pampered life, but several days of treatment as a prisoner had stripped away nearly all of her former poise.

"Our family contributed when the Ministry of Magic was founded! More than half of the Ministry’s funding comes from us! How dare you? Who gave you the authority to judge me? Bring out your Minister and let me speak to them!"

"Order!"

Bernard brought down his gavel. For that single second, it worked brilliantly, but once the dizziness passed, the witch continued shrieking without pause.

She believed Bernard was not qualified to speak with her at all, and demanded to speak directly with the current Minister!

Bernard’s lips pressed into a thin line, veins bulging in his neck.

If he could, he truly wanted to throw a Cruciatus Curse at her. But he could not. The Cruciatus Curse could be used against enemies or as a punishment, but she had not yet been formally sentenced…

"Silencio."

A spell flew in from outside the courtroom and struck the witch squarely, plunging the entire courtroom into silence.

"Bernard, why did you let her keep disrupting the court’s order?"

Eugene stepped in through the doorway. At the sight of him, the witch immediately became agitated, but when she opened her mouth, no sound came out. Her wand was not nearby, so she could not dispel the spell. She could only bang against the railing in front of her.

"Silencio—bailiff, keep an eye on her. Don’t let her cause any more trouble."

Eugene added another spell to the railing, gave the bailiff an instruction, then ignored the witch and walked over to Bernard, lowering his voice.

"Percy came to find me and said there was some trouble here… I thought you could handle a minor situation like this. I didn’t expect to see you looking so lost."

Bernard frowned and shook his head.

"I’m the Chief Justice now…"

"No one can be perfect, Bernard. Even Adam has things he isn’t good at."

Sitting in the corner, Adam slowly produced a question mark: ?

"You can’t demand so much of yourself. You can’t expect everyone to accept your laws, especially… a defendant currently standing trial before you."

Only then did Eugene spare the witch a glance.

"Can you guarantee that every defendant on your side remains calm and accepts the court’s ruling?"

"Obviously not."

"Then what do they do when they become emotionally unstable?"

"…"

Bernard fell silent for a moment before speaking.

"I want to do better than them."

"Then take it slowly. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Look at the statutes and scales on your desk—you have already achieved a level of fairness no court in this world can match."

The sudden voice belonged to neither of them, yet both men’s eyes lit up.

However, after sweeping his gaze around the room, Bernard did not see Adam.

"That’s just how he is now. Sometimes, you can’t see where he is."

Eugene lowered his voice even further as he explained.

"I’m in the far-left seat of the last row of the gallery. Don’t mind me. Continue your trial."

Their gazes fell in that direction, and sure enough, they saw Adam smiling there. The others in the courtroom noticed where they were looking and turned to look as well, but they saw only the back of the gallery… where there was no one at all.

"By the way, Eugene, I’m quite curious about what I’m supposedly not good at. Come over here so we can have a nice chat."

The smile that had appeared on Eugene’s face upon seeing Adam froze.

"Laws are not meant to be spoken for people to hear. People have heard too much empty rhetoric and grand talk for far too long. Laws are meant to be shown to people. Use your actions to tell everyone what your laws are like. This is something that can only be accomplished over a long period of time."

After giving Bernard those final words, Adam looked toward Eugene, and the smile on his face became dangerous.

"Ahem. The trial will continue."

Bernard patted Eugene on the shoulder, wishing his brother a safe journey, then composed himself and returned to the trial.