Chapter 6: The Editor's Urgent Manuscript Request
Douglas shrugged.
"Professor, you know… even though I ended up in detention for that incident, I still don't think I did anything wrong."
Seven years earlier, when Douglas had been a third-year student, he had opened a small orchard beside the edge of the Forbidden Forest—with Hagrid's help.
Every day he patrolled the place from morning until sunset.
The orchard had taken considerable effort.
One afternoon after class, Douglas was hurrying back when he stumbled upon a group of Ravenclaw girls wandering through the orchard.
If they had only picked a few fruits, he probably wouldn't have minded.
He might even have taken the opportunity to strike up a conversation.
But when he stepped inside, what he saw nearly made him choke with anger.
Branches littered the ground.
Half-bitten fruits—many of them still unripe—were scattered everywhere.
The orchard looked like it had been ransacked.
When the girls saw Douglas enter, one of them smiled casually.
"Your apples and bananas aren't nearly as good as the fruit Hogwarts provides."
Perhaps they hadn't meant any harm.
Perhaps they simply didn't understand how much effort it took to grow fruit trees.
But at that moment, Douglas lost his patience.
He pointed at a half-eaten apple lying on the ground.
"Are Ravenclaws just a bunch of chattering monkeys?"
Unfortunately for Douglas, those "monkeys" were fully trained witches.
Several wands were drawn instantly.
Douglas, however, was hardly defenseless.
Within moments he had disarmed them.
Then he transfigured broken branches into ropes and tied the girls to wooden posts outside the orchard.
The wizarding world was small.
Hogwarts was even smaller.
Everyone had friends.
And romantic entanglements between houses were practically a tradition.
The result?
Three Gryffindors sent to the hospital wing.
Nine Ravenclaws hospitalized.
Five Slytherins injured badly enough to require treatment.
Hufflepuff casualties: zero.
As punishment, Professor Sprout—smiling the entire time—sent Douglas to work in the orchard for a full week.
The heads of the other houses looked far less amused.
They punished the students involved by forbidding them from using magic to care for the orchard for an entire semester.
What made them even more irritated was Douglas's next suggestion.
He volunteered to supply fruit from the orchard to the professors, staff, and house heads.
He also proposed that the orchard be used as a work site for students serving detention.
That suggestion ended the argument.
Eventually, the conversation with Professor McGonagall came to an end.
She made it clear that she would not interfere with how Douglas taught his classes.
Then she informed him—without much sympathy—that the Floo Network connection would soon close.
If he didn't want to spend several hours traveling by the Knight Bus, he had better return through the fireplace immediately.
After all, Hogwarts lay deep within the northern Scottish Highlands.
The distance to London was not short.
Even Dumbledore himself would probably avoid making the trip without good reason.
Moments later, Douglas stepped out of his own fireplace in Surrey.
"Scourgify."
With a quick wandless spell, he brushed the soot from his clothes.
Then he headed directly for the basement.
That was where he conducted most of his magical experiments.
Douglas dropped into the worn single sofa and leaned back comfortably.
"System," he muttered.
"The Top Student Development System."
He suddenly felt a strange sense of embarrassment just saying the name.
A translucent panel appeared in his mind.
[Student Development System]
Points earned after each class will be calculated according to the following criteria:
Student SatisfactionScore above 9 — 20 points per 10 classesScore between 6 and 9 — 10 points per 10 classesScore below 6 — 0.5 points per class
Assignment Completion…
Student Progress…
Class Participation…
[Total Points]
Student SatisfactionClasses scoring above 9: 0 — Points: 0Classes scoring 6–9: 0 — Points: 0Classes scoring below 6: 0 — Points: 0
Assignment Completion…
Student Progress…
Class Participation…
Monthly Teacher Evaluation
Score above 9 — Bonus: 1000 pointsScore between 6 and 9 — Bonus: 500 pointsScore below 6 — Penalty: –300 points
Evaluation criteria include:Teaching routine, teaching methods, teaching effectiveness, professional conduct, attendance.
End-of-Year Exam Results
Outstanding — 1000 points per studentPass — 500 points per studentFail — –300 points per student
Current totals:
Outstanding: 0 students — 0 pointsPass: 0 students — 0 pointsFail: 0 students — 0 points
Mall unlock condition: 10,000 total points
Warning: The host is affected by an unknown curse.
The curse may be removed after one year by consuming 1 point.
"Curse? Ten thousand points?"
Douglas stared at the red warning text in disbelief.
According to the system's instructions—and based on the timetable McGonagall had given him—
A Hogwarts school year lasted roughly 190 teaching days.
That meant seven classes per day.
More than 1,300 classes per year.
Even if he worked diligently and ensured that every class received a satisfaction score above nine…
He would barely reach ten thousand points by the end of the year.
If the overall teacher evaluation and exam results were good, the target would be easier.
But that one-point deduction clause at the end—
That looked suspicious.
Douglas rubbed his forehead.
"This system isn't here to help me…"
"It's here to mess with me."
August arrived quickly.
Douglas spent nearly the entire month inside his house.
During that time he sent letters to several friends.
Since he had planned long ago to remain mostly hidden in the Muggle world, he never kept an owl of his own.
Instead, he relied on the owl sent by his editor in the wizarding world.
Mr. Slane from Obscurus Books.
Without that owl, Douglas suspected he might have completely lost contact with the magical world.
Using letters from former classmates and graduates, Douglas collected information about the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. examinations from the past several years.
After studying the patterns, he summarized the exam trends from the last five years.
Fortunately, because the wizarding population was relatively small—and examiners tended to serve for decades—
The structure of the exams rarely changed dramatically.
He divided the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum into two main sections: theory and practical application.
One important point about Hogwarts was that each professor had the authority to choose their own textbooks.
Douglas decided not to change that.
Classics might not always be the best, but the wizarding world progressed slowly.
And sometimes tradition had its advantages.
For the lower years, he chose The Dark Arts: A Guide to Self-Defense by Quentin Trimble.
The book provided detailed explanations of various Dark creatures and defensive spells.
Unlike certain self-obsessed authors, Douglas had no intention of forcing students to read books he had written himself.
During his time at Hogwarts, he had published novels anonymously.
The disguise had been necessary.
At the time, Douglas had feared that Dumbledore might attempt Legilimency on him.
Using imaginative fantasy novels as a cover seemed like a clever solution.
Unfortunately…
Not every student at Hogwarts was named Harry Potter.
At first, Dumbledore had paid him little attention.
Only after Douglas caused a series of incidents at school had the Headmaster begun watching him more closely.
Still…
Whenever Douglas thought about Gilderoy Lockhart, he felt as though he had overlooked something important.
He glanced at the clock.
It was already one in the morning.
Douglas stretched and looked out the window.
A thin crescent moon hung in the sky.
He couldn't help sighing quietly.
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