Chapter 274: First Place That Can't Be First Place
In just half a day, news of Sean claiming he would "secure fifth, strive for third" in the final exams spread throughout Castelobruxo.
The Castelobruxo students talked about this extensively. Most of them felt Sean was being too arrogant, but at the same time, Sean's achievements in Potions were quickly spread around. While this changed some Castelobruxo students' attitudes, it didn't change much overall.
Sean didn't feel there was anything to worry about regarding this matter. He even somewhat welcomed those who had strong objections to his words to come forward, cause trouble for him, or duel with him.
Castelobruxo's exam period was Monday through Wednesday, with results released on the weekend of the same week.
Most students were unusually eager for the weekend to arrive and grades to be released, so they could see exactly how many points Sean scored.
Meanwhile, Sean completely didn't care about the grades and continued going to the library as usual.
Before leaving Hogwarts, his teacher had mentioned that Castelobruxo's alchemy had distinctive features. Coming here, Sean naturally wanted to look at alchemy-related books.
It must be said that, as his teacher had mentioned, Castelobruxo's alchemy was truly distinctive.
Not only did it have unique alchemical arrays, but also many alchemical theories different from European alchemy. This truly surprised and delighted Sean, who threw himself day and night into studying these books and materials.
"Remy, what has that Hogwarts student Sean Bulstrode been doing lately?"
Turning to look at the school director who asked the question, Sister Ray answered: "He's been studying in the library recently, apparently alchemy-related materials. He enters the library promptly at 7:30 every day, takes breaks for lunch and dinner, and only leaves when the library closes at night. It must be said that someone who could become Hogwarts' first place, a Potions master who could write five papers in The Golden Cauldron, indeed has efforts that ordinary people can't match.
But speaking of which, Director, why did you come looking for me?"
Looking at Sister Ray, the director hesitated before continuing: "It's Saturday now, and some people's grades have come out."
Hearing this, Sister Ray wasn't stupid and naturally understood the director's implication, so she immediately asked: "Director, have Sean's grades come out?"
Nodding, the director said: "Yes, they're indeed out. Except for Care of Magical Creatures, which is a second-tier E, all other grades are the highest level O. Moreover, among the exam subjects, Potions, Transfiguration, Alchemy, and Ancient Runes all received perfect scores."
Hearing Sean's grades, Sister Ray couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. She taught Transfiguration herself and naturally knew what level someone who could get a perfect score would be at, so she asked again: "What's his ranking?"
"First place!" the director said with some emotion. "Second place Coria is only two points behind him. Actually, in terms of grade levels alone, Coria's grades are all the highest level O, but his perfect score subjects are only History of Magic and Herbology. Our Castelobruxo ranking also uses total points, so although Sean Bulstrode has one E, he has too many perfect-score subjects. Even those that aren't perfect scores are mostly high scores, so his total grade exceeded Coria's, ranking first!"
"Director, what do you want to tell me?"
Sister Ray already had a general guess in her heart, but she didn't want to believe her speculation.
Looking at Sister Ray, the director sighed helplessly: "First place can't be him. This isn't from personal motives, but he really can't be first place."
"I thought our Castelobruxo should be open and enthusiastic."
"Castelobruxo is naturally open and enthusiastic, but beyond that, we must also consider the Ministry's attitude and students' thoughts. If first place goes to a Hogwarts student who only came for a week, then the pressure third-year students need to bear will inevitably be enormous.
In short, he really can't become first place. He can be any ranking except first, but first place really won't work!"
"Then why don't you just deduct three points from him?"
"That won't work either, because the exam must be fair."
"But your behaviour itself is already unfair."
"No, the exam is still fair. What's unfair is me as the director."
Sighing, Sister Ray looked at the director: "Director, what do you want me to do?"
"Please discuss with him. We're willing to provide one each of the first, second, and third place rewards as compensation. When rankings are announced, he'll be placed in second position."
"Alright, I'll go discuss it with him."
"Thank you very much, Professor Lehmann."
...
Sean looked at Professor Lehmann sitting across from him. He nodded: "Of course I can. I agree."
Lehmann was stunned. Looking at Sean, she asked somewhat puzzledly: "Why? Why did you agree so quickly? Don't you think this matter itself is unfair?"
"This matter is certainly not fair enough, but at the same time, I also understand that director's approach. All third-year students participated in the exam. The exam content was what they'd studied for a year, but the result was that none of them outscored a foreign visitor who had just arrived at Castelobruxo for three or four days. This situation has already gone beyond simple grades.
Your Ministry will suspect whether Castelobruxo professors are really seriously teaching courses. Student parents will consider whether their children can really receive a good magical education. Outside people will also think Castelobruxo's teaching is too poor and doesn't deserve to be South America's only magical school.
Therefore, I can be second, and I can also be third, but I absolutely cannot be first."
"But this matter is really unfair to you."
"So I received compensation."
Sister Ray was obviously someone very fair.
But at the same time, she wasn't someone who ignored the bigger picture.
Having received Sean's answer, Sister Ray left Sean's dormitory.
About an hour later, Sister Ray returned again, bringing Sean three items.
The three rewards for first, second, and third place this time!
They were respectively: the third-place reward, an Undetectable Extension Bag with warehouse-sized space inside. Compared to this item, Sean's bag with only car-sized space that needed frequent Undetectable Extension Charms to maintain could be directly eliminated.
The second-place reward was a bottle of Felix Felicis containing a full thirty drops, far exceeding the tenth place's three drops.
And the first place reward was simply...