#235 - Chapter 235: A Hundred Flowers Blooming and Interview Assessment

The dinner officially began.

Ron, stuffing a chicken leg into his mouth, excitedly said to Hermione.

"Is what Professor Slughorn said true? I'm a little doubtful of my ears. Just by playing Wizard's Chess, we can bring glory to the school and get Galleon rewards?"

"Hermione, can you confirm if that's what he meant."

Looking at Ron's excited appearance, Hermione smiled.

She certainly understood why Ron was so excited; after all, her good friend had always been strong at Wizard's Chess.

In their first year, he had successfully solved Professor McGonagall's chessboard.

He usually found people to play Wizard's Chess with whenever he had nothing to do.

Now that playing Wizard's Chess could bring glory to the school, Ron was naturally eager to show off.

"That's what you think, Ron. Professor Slughorn just said that this is this year's new 'All Flowers Bloom' plan."

Hermione took a sip of pumpkin juice, moistened her throat, and continued, "The purpose of this plan is to cultivate all-around talents for Hogwarts."

"As long as you have a skill, whether it's Wizard's Chess, Gobstones, or Quidditch racing, as long as it's a competition publicly recognized by the magical world, as long as you have the ability to participate, the school will have a professor accompany you to participate in these international events and bring glory to the school."

Ron swallowed the chicken in his mouth and said loudly, "If you ask me, Professor Slughorn is a genius; he can always allow all students to bring out their strengths."

"If I can win a grand prize in the Wizard's Chess competition, my mother will never say that I'm wasting my time again."

"You're planning to participate in the Wizard's Chess competition?" Hermione encouraged, "Then you have to work hard."

"You know that the Wizard's Chess competition is a competition that all the Wizard's Chess masters in the entire magical world will participate in, which is completely different from your usual chess games at school."

"Your studies can't fall behind either. Of course, I believe you can balance both."

"Ron," Harry also offered advice, "Didn't Professor Slughorn say that students can form their own interest groups?"

"With your level, you can completely form a Wizard's Chess group and practice more with the members. This will make it easier for you to participate in the Wizard's Chess competition."

"Do you know when the next competition is?"

"Of course," Ron said, beaming, "The next Wizard's Chess competition is in March next year, and the location is in England. I've been paying attention to information about this, and now it's finally coming in handy."

"Then you have a long time to prepare," Harry said, "You can also find Professor McGonagall to compete and exchange chess skills with."

"I heard Professor Slughorn say that she is a famous Wizard's Chess master. If you can defeat Professor McGonagall, you will definitely get a good ranking."

Hermione agreed, "Now that Professor McGonagall's teaching tasks are much easier, she will definitely be willing to help you."

Professor McGonagall wants to see the students bring glory to the school more than anyone else.

Ron gritted his teeth: "Win over Professor McGonagall? I will work hard."

"By the way, are there any competitions you want to participate in?"

Hermione frowned and fell into deep thought.

To be honest, she had always focused her energy on her studies and had not paid attention to the various competitions in the magical world.

For a moment, she really couldn't think of any competition that was suitable for her to participate in.

Moreover, she had signed up for all the elective courses this year except for Divination.

If it weren't for the magical props that Professor McGonagall had just given her, she would not be able to attend so many classes at the same time.

Her time was particularly tight, and she had to use every day as two days, with no extra time to participate in those competitions.

"As for me," Hermione hesitated, "I won't participate in any international competitions."

"But I have an idea to try for the 'interview assessment' that Professor Slughorn mentioned in History of Magic and Astronomy."

"Interview assessment!" Ron said exaggeratedly, "That's too difficult."

"This requires first getting the approval of the course professor."

"Then, all the professors in the same subject will interview you at the same time, and the content of the interview will cover all the knowledge points of this academic year."

"Although it's difficult, after passing the interview, you don't have to go to these two classes anymore, you don't have to do the homework for these two classes, and you can save the time to use for other courses," Hermione said firmly.

"Moreover, after passing, you don't have to take the final exams for these two courses, and you can directly get an O (Outstanding) grade, which is still very worthwhile."

Ron smacked his lips: "I can't envy it, I can't envy it."

"Harry, what are your plans?"

Harry glanced at the professors' table and said softly, "Professor Snape said that the third-year Potions class is no longer meaningful to me."

"I am also more confident in my spell level."

"So, I am going to participate in the interviews for the Charms and Potions courses."

"Professor Slughorn said that my Transfiguration is not good enough, so I have to squeeze out more time to practice Transfiguration."

"As for the international competition, I plan to participate in the International Magical School Potions Championship in April next year."

"To be honest, I even want to quit the Quidditch team to free up more time for myself."

Harry carefully glanced at Wood in the distance: "But this is just a thought; I'm still quite afraid of Wood getting angry."

"This year is his last year at school, and he must be thinking of winning another championship."

"Not to discourage you, Harry," Ron said, shaking his head, "Your level is still quite different from Krum's."

"If you want to win the championship, you still have to rely on the Chasers to widen the score gap."

He changed the subject: "However, it's not like there's no chance. Durmstrang's Chasers have graduated two, and a Beater has also graduated."

"If they replace new people, we still have a good chance of winning the championship."

Ron counted on his fingers: "The Keeper is Wood, the Chasers are Fred, George, Cedric, the Seeker is Harry, and the Beaters are Roger Davies."

"Except for the lack of a strong Beater, this is our dream team."

"It's a pity... the giant Marcus has graduated."

"Ron," Hermione said, suppressing her voice, "Don't you know that Marcus failed too many subjects and was held back a year?"

"Look, he's sitting at the Slytherin table now."

"Merlin's pants!" Ron glanced around and sure enough, he found many students pointing and whispering in Marcus's direction.

He turned his head and said in horror, "The professors are serious!"

"I thought this was just the professors scaring us last year, with the goal of making us study hard."

"This is too scary; it seems I really have to study hard."

"I don't want to be held back a year. Not to mention it's embarrassing, my mother will definitely beat me to death."

"Hermione, you have to help me, please, please."

When the last piece of dessert disappeared from the plate, Dumbledore announced the end of the dinner.

The students followed their respective house's teams and walked towards their common rooms.

Too many things had happened today, and they couldn't wait to take a good rest.

......

...

.