Hogwarts: Who made her a professor?

Chapter 24 Sour Popping Candy

Later that day, Professor Minerva McGonagall appeared on the eighth floor of the castle.

Her expression was serious, her hair was neatly combed, and she walked hurriedly until she saw an extremely ugly stone beast with a dripping spout, at which point she slowed down.

"Toffee apples," Professor McGonagall said.

This was clearly a command, and the dripping stone beast suddenly came to life, jumping to the side. The wall behind it split in two, revealing a spiral staircase.

Professor McGonagall stepped onto the stairs, which moved slowly upwards like an escalator in a Muggle mall, and the wall behind her, which had split in two, slammed shut with a loud bang.

At the top of the stairs was a gleaming oak door with a brass door knocker in the shape of a griffin.

Before Professor McGonagall could even knock, the oak door opened by itself, as if it were a sensor door.

The Headmaster's office at Hogwarts is a spacious and beautiful circular room. Portraits of past headmasters hang on the walls, the crumpled Sorting Hat sits on a shelf, and many strange and wonderful silver objects emit wisps of smoke.

Albus Dumbledore sat at a huge table, with a tray of sweets and confectionery on his left and a dozen letters on his right, some already opened and some unopened.

The over 100-year-old man would occasionally pick out a candy. When he picked out the "Sizzling Honey Candy," the old man beamed with joy. When he picked out the "Sour Popping Candy," his old face immediately scrunched up, and his already crooked nose looked even more crooked.

"Ah, my dear professor, what has happened at the school that makes you look so serious?" Dumbledore looked up, his blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles like a calm sea.

"Professor, I think you should know what happened," Professor McGonagall said angrily. "Young Professor Black had the same thing happen to you, no... her experience was worse; she received a letter with a howling tone!"

In 1991, Professor McGonagall had been the professor of transfiguration for thirty-five years. She had seen professors in the field receive shouting letters before, but she was still deeply concerned.

More importantly, Belvina Black hadn't even started her first lesson, and she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Oh?" Dumbledore's tone was casual and calm, but it felt completely different from when Belvina had used the same casual, calm tone to brush off a reporter. He continued, "Would you like a honeydew melon, my dear professor?"

"Professor!" Professor McGonagall stepped forward. "Albus, she did nothing wrong and shouldn't be subjected to these unfounded accusations."

Over the past thirty-five years, Professor McGonagall has taught countless students, including the three young Black siblings, Sirius Black, who was a Gryffindor.

"Minerva, I've also received many letters," Dumbledore said, his tone suddenly becoming aggrieved. "These letters are all about our young Professor Black."

Some of these letters accused Dumbledore of failing to recognize talent by hiring Death Eaters; others criticized Belvina's character, saying she behaved improperly during her time at the Ministry of Magic and was unqualified to teach students; still others were personal attacks on Belvina, filled with profanity that was disgusting to read.

The accusations (and insults) from the students' parents are all baseless and based on personal speculation and conjecture.

They call Belvina a Death Eater because her last name is Black and she's the younger sister of those three; they say Belvina is immoral because she almost never wore the same clothes twice while she was in the Ministry of Magic, and she was always surrounded by a group of male wizards; the personal attacks against Belvina are even simpler, either for revenge or out of sheer dislike.

Strangely, the old fogies on the board of directors remained silent, not even sending a single letter or note.

"Albus, we must do something," Professor McGonagall said, her tone much softer. "Professor Black shouldn't have had to endure this."

The Gryffindor headmaster was absolutely right. If Belvina had stayed at the Ministry of Magic instead of coming to Hogwarts to become that damn Muggle Studies professor, she wouldn't have had to endure these unfounded accusations again.

"Professor, do you think young Miss Black will be discouraged by these accusations and insults?" Dumbledore stood up. "Or do you think she's a fragile young girl?"

Albus Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts, is widely regarded as the greatest wizard of his time, president of the International Confederation of Wizards, chief wizard of Wizengamor, founder and secretive of the Order of the Phoenix.

How could someone like that possibly admit Belvina, who has a completely impeccable background, into Hogwarts without any prior knowledge of her?

While he might not know everything about her, Dumbledore was aware of almost everything Belvina had done at the Ministry of Magic, including, but not limited to, pushing Cornelius Fudge to become Minister for Magic.

"Miss Black is very young, enviably young," Dumbledore continued, "but anyone who underestimates her because of her youth will suffer a great loss."

Minerva McGonagall, Vice-Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor, and Professor of Transfiguration, does she know Belvina?

Professor McGonagall did not know Belvina well, and the two did not have much contact, either at school or outside of school.

Belvina's student days can be roughly divided into the early and late periods.

In the early stages, Belvina is gloomy and withdrawn, dislikes communicating with people, and occasionally promotes pure-blood superiority, but her tone is completely unbecoming of a child and is clearly imitating her parents' remarks.

Later on, Belvina was no longer gloomy and withdrawn, but she was still unsociable. She spent almost all her time in the library except for classes, and was often chased by Mrs. Pince with a feather duster.

In Professor McGonagall's view, and in the view of many others, Belvina's transformation was due to a major blow she had suffered.

The disappearance of the second brother, the death of the father, and the imprisonment of the eldest brother—any one of these events would be enough to change a person, but these three events happened to the same person one after another.

What no one knew was that this poor man also suffered torment from his mother, Walbuga Black, who was never a good mother.

When Professor McGonagall heard about Belvina again, the little girl in her memory had become a completely different person. She was elegant and composed, and had a wide circle of friends. She was like a little sun that was always radiating light and warmth!

“I know nothing about Miss Black,” Professor McGonagall said. “All I know is that she did nothing wrong. Neither then nor now, she is the one who did anything wrong.”

Professor McGonagall, with her stern personality, may seem unapproachable, but she is actually a warm and kind person.

“Of course, my dear professor,” said Dumbledore. “But we’re not talking about whether Miss Black has done anything wrong, but whether she can bear these—well—accusations.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Professor McGonagall's serious expression relaxed.

"It was obvious that Professor Black could handle it," Professor McGonagall recalled. "When he first received the howling letter, Professor Black was very calm, eerily calm."

She was as calm as if she had orchestrated this outburst!

"She only became vulnerable and aggrieved when I asked her questions," Professor McGonagall continued. "I knew her aggrieved demeanor was feigned, and she knew it herself."

Snape, the Hogwarts Best Actor winner, once bluntly criticized the poor acting.

Everyone knew that Belvina was acting, putting on a show of being wronged, and she herself never intended to deceive everyone.

"Miss Black is conveying her attitude to us," Dumbledore said slowly. "She is telling us that she has been wronged and that we must give her appropriate compensation."

Dumbledore's long fingers rummaged through the tray, hovering between the sizzling honey candy and the sour popping candy.

In the end, the headmaster of Hogwarts still chose a sour popping candy, his face, ravaged by more than a hundred years of time, once again scrunched up in a grimace.

"But I haven't figured out what Miss Black really wants yet." Dumbledore sighed. "My dear professor, you should know that it's always hard to guess what's on a girl's mind."

Upon hearing this, Professor McGonagall paused, unsure whether to agree or disagree.

"The only thing I'm sure of is that Belvina Black doesn't need power."

"Are we really going to do nothing?" Professor McGonagall asked, somewhat uneasy. "Shouldn't we at least do something to show our stance?"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Of course we should, and we should let Miss Black know that we support her. When someone is attacked without cause, what they need most is support from others."

While at the Ministry of Magic, Belvina went through that dark time alone, but at Hogwarts, Dumbledore chose to stand behind her and offer his support.

Regardless of Dumbledore's motives, this support was genuine.

"I understand," Professor McGonagall said. "There's one more thing, about this morning's Muggle Studies class."

Dumbledore sat back down at the enormous table and said, "Has our Professor Black caused trouble in her class?"

"Wait a moment!"

A third person's voice echoed in the spacious, beautiful circular room.

"Could I interpret this as—my great-granddaughter—the youngest daughter of the Black family—teaching Muggle Studies?"

Instantly, the portraits of the past headmasters all seemed to awaken, their ears perked up, waiting for Dumbledore to personally confirm this momentous news.