A C-Class Combat Spell!
That was the level of magic only Intermediate Mages were supposed to learn!
No one had expected that simply mastering the Doppelganger Charm would earn them such a reward, gifted freely by Professor Jack!
While the twelve rewarded students couldn't stop grinning, their faces lit up with joy, the rest were filled with nothing but regret.
They cursed their past laziness, lamenting why they hadn't practiced the Doppelganger Charm more diligently. They'd missed a golden opportunity.
This was especially true for the students among the thirty-plus who had stepped onto the platform but were ultimately eliminated. They felt like they could hardly breathe!
They had been so close!
A C-Class Combat Spell had been within their grasp, only to slip away!
Ron watched Harry and Hermione with naked envy. If only he'd spent less time on Wizard's Chess!
"I'm so jealous! A C-Class Combat Spell!"
Harry, mindful of his friend's feelings, toned down his smile and offered comfort. "Ron, there will be other chances! Next time, it might be you getting the reward!"
Ron felt a little better hearing that. Harry had a point. If he worked hard, he could be the one earning a C-Class Combat Spell next time!
Hermione, however, let out a cold snort. "Play less Wizard's Chess, study more, and maybe a C-Class Combat Spell would have been yours. No rewards for those who just talk without putting in the work!"
Ron's face froze. He immediately found Hermione utterly annoying.
Oh, look who can talk! Miss Know-It-All strikes again!
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Harry quickly tried to mediate. "Hermione, you don't seem very happy! This is a C-Class Combat Spell! Magic you're only supposed to learn as an Intermediate Mage. Without this reward, it might have taken us ages to get one!"
Hermione thought to herself, What's the big deal about a paltry C-Class spell? Professor Jack is going to teach me B-Class and even A-Class Combat Spells! Why should I get excited over a mere C-Class?
Besides, it was that wretched Ron's fault that Professor Jack had misunderstood her in the first place. Just thinking about the Professor's final words made her flush with a mix of embarrassment and anger!
Hermione glared at Ron, teeth gritted. "It's nothing. I'm fine."
Ron, completely baffled by her ferocious stare and having no idea what he'd done wrong, could only look down in confusion.
Over in Slytherin, Crabbe and Goyle were happy that Malfoy had earned a C-Class Combat Spell, but they also couldn't hide their own disappointment.
Malfoy clapped them both on the shoulder. "Don't worry, what's mine is yours. I can tell my father, get him to teach us some new spells!"
Crabbe and Goyle were overjoyed, nodding eagerly. "Thanks, Boss Malfoy! We, Crabbe and Goyle, will follow you forever!"
While the students were a mix of joy and sorrow, the professors felt like they'd stumbled onto a new frontier, believing this teaching model was excellent and worth adopting.
But the mood among the Ministry of Magic officials was far from good, especially for Minister Cornelius Fudge.
Even the Ministry's own people had subconsciously accepted this "mage分级" (fēnjí - grading/ranking) and had started slotting their own power levels into it.
Previously, wizards had never been formally graded. No one ranked power purely by the amount of magic one possessed.
After all, even a wizard who'd just learned the Killing Curse could take down a top-tier wizard with one surprise Avada Kedavra.
Thus, the magical world never had a clear power hierarchy. Strength was usually gauged by track records and performance in formal wizard duels.
Once the information from this class spread and it would spread the entire wizarding world would be thrown into disarray. Establishing rankings wasn't a right granted to just anyone.
Furthermore, any ranking system needed to gain public acceptance, a notoriously difficult task.
Fudge frowned. This was not good. These classifications were created without Ministry certification, arbitrarily dividing magic and mages into grades.
Why did Jack always have to push the Ministry's limits?
This single lesson contained enough violations for the Ministry to arrest him several times over!
But then another thought struck him. What if the Ministry itself certified and promoted this system? Wouldn't that be brilliant?
Promotions, raises, reaching the pinnacle of the wizarding world wouldn't that be just around the corner?
If he could just recruit Jack into the Ministry, wouldn't these Combat Spells and the magic grading system become achievements of the British Ministry of Magic?
And if the Ministry pushed this classification, making the entire wizarding world aware of it... wouldn't that be perfect!
Iden, the Unspeakable, understood the difficulties better than anyone. The Department of Mysteries had previously attempted to grade wizards.
They just never managed to gain enough support to officially release it. Magic was too unpredictable. A wizard with a tiny magical core could still defeat a much more powerful one.
If a power level system was implemented, but low-level wizards kept defeating high-level ones, what would be the point of the rankings?
Moreover, some wizards had vast magical power but knew few offensive spells, while some Dark Wizards, though magically weaker, specialized in vicious and deadly curses.
This was precisely why the Department of Mysteries had never publicly released a power ranking system!
While Fudge was the Minister, he wasn't a technical expert and wasn't fully aware of these complexities.
But Iden knew perfectly well that this grading system would, at best, be a temporary amusement for the wizarding world. It would never see widespread use.
Unless, of course, the person establishing the system possessed power so overwhelming that every witch and wizard was forced to accept its authority.
For instance, if Voldemort announced a ranking system for Dark Wizards, they would likely adopt it willingly.
But Jack was just a Hogwarts professor. Who would recognize his authority besides the students in his class?
In fact, once this information spread, it was likely to attract significant trouble for Jack!
/-\
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