Chapter 40: Lockhart’s Way of Reading

Lockhart's office.

Lockhart sat at the desk in his office, slowly flipping through the thick list of Hogwarts books on the desk. He felt very excited and had a bright smile on his face. Although Ms. Pince did not understand Lockhart's request, when faced with a very reasonable request from a professor, she pulled out a carefully compiled list of books. This is the basic quality of a professional librarian. Well, it was definitely not because of Lockhart's handsome appearance, but simply because she was moved by his enthusiasm for knowledge.

After Lockhart got the list, he thanked her, returned to his office, and studied it slowly. As a university professor, he read a lot of books. He understood very well that entering a library and finding a place to sit down and read a seemingly high-end book was inefficient. In his eyes, it even felt like a waste of time. When he reads a book, he first looks at the author. What kind of research results has this author had? What great things has he done? If so, it means that as long as the author writes the book carefully, it will at least be of high quality.

Secondly, he looks at the table of contents of the book. The quality of a book can largely be judged by its table of contents. Through the table of contents, he can quickly understand what the book is about and what it involves. Even the essence of a book can be judged by the table of contents.

Through the list, he can quickly learn about the entire collection of Hogwarts library books. More importantly, he can completely understand the changes in the wizarding world over the past 1,600 years through this list. Whether it is in the fields of magic, potions, alchemy, etc., he can judge the development of wizard civilization over the years by the titles of the books.

Because the title is a core introduction to the entire book!

For example, just now Lockhart saw a book from 1340, "Subverting the Concept of Potions - The Importance of Wizards' Will," written by the famous potion master Susanna Gina. A brief look at the title of this book shows that in the 14th century, wizard civilization probably had a breakthrough development in the field of potions. Let's look at the potion books written before 1340: "18 Techniques for Refining Potions," "Detailed Explanations of 72 Kinds of Potions," "Seizing the Timing of Refining Potions," etc. It soon became clear that before the 14th century, the refining of potions was probably limited to techniques and medicinal materials, not much attention was paid to the wizard's emotions and will.

Nowadays, emotions and will are important to wizards. Even Lockhart, a novice in potion-making, understands their importance. This is the change of the times and the development of history. From this list of famous books, Lockhart can completely estimate the development and changes in various fields of the entire wizarding civilization, and can even simply speculate on future development trends.

This is the difference between a specialist scholar and an ordinary person reading books. It's completely an iteration of concepts, a dimensionality reduction attack on cognition. If an ordinary wizard saw so many books, he would be dazzled. He might become addicted to the ocean of knowledge and be unable to extricate himself. In the end, even if he walked out of the entire Hogwarts library, he would probably gain very little.

After all, there are too many books and too much knowledge. There is infinite knowledge in the world, only similarities and differences!

Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office

Dumbledore wore half-moon lenses and sat at his huge desk, silently listening to Professor McGonagall, in her dark green wizard robes, report on the start of the school year.

"Gryffindor House has been at the bottom again, and the reason is still the Weasley twins," Professor McGonagall complained, then continued to report, "Headmaster, the school has just started, and the school's food fund reserve currently totals 146 gold Galleons. The Ministry of Magic and the school board will allocate 600 Galleons at the end of the month, which is enough for all the students for the year, with some left for the cultivation of magical plants."

Seeing Dumbledore's gentle nod, Professor McGonagall continued, "Regarding teachers' funds, each professor's monthly salary is 50 gold Galleons. At the end of the year, there will be a bonus worth 100 gold Galleons." Professor McGonagall continued expressionlessly, "Headmaster, should the year-end bonus be paid directly in gold Galleons or should we purchase the corresponding items?"

Dumbledore thought for a while and said gently, "Let's change it to gold Galleons this year. We distributed items last year, and I felt that Snape's attitude was not great."

"Okay, Headmaster." Professor McGonagall picked up the quill next to her and quickly took notes before continuing to report, "Regarding Professor Lockhart, during class, he asked the students to take a test and reward outstanding students. He told me that he would personally prepare the rewards. However, Lockhart said that if the school is willing to provide a production fund, he would not mind."

After hearing this, Dumbledore smiled, nodded silently, and said nothing. Professor McGonagall did not repeat it and continued to report on matters related to the start of school. Regarding Lockhart's request, Professor McGonagall thought: He still wanted the school to provide funds for what he had promised, and the gold Galleons at Hogwarts were not easy to get. That money was donated by the Ministry of Magic and the school board. Besides, he himself said that he wanted to reward outstanding students, so of course, the school welcomes it. But since he said it, he shouldn't expect the school to bear this responsibility. Otherwise, in the future, whatever the professors say casually will be expected to be borne by the school—what kind of loss would the school suffer?

Professor McGonagall, who has always acted rigorously and is known as the Vice-Principal of Hogwarts, takes an attitude towards school funds: she will take it very seriously and will not let a single gold Galleon go to waste. Well, as long as it didn't cost Hogwarts money, she always had a favorable attitude.

Then, Professor McGonagall reported to Dumbledore one by one the matters and problems related to the start of school. Basically, she came with her own solutions to most problems, and Dumbledore did not veto them but silently nodded in agreement. Professor McGonagall is very accustomed to Dumbledore's attitude—because it has been this process for all these years. Everything in Hogwarts, big and small, basically passes through her hands. When problems arise, she reports them to Dumbledore for the final decision. Dumbledore trusted Professor McGonagall so much that he basically stayed out of Hogwarts-related affairs. However, Professor McGonagall still expressed her respect for the principal and would report to Principal Dumbledore at the beginning of every month.

Suddenly!

Dumbledore heard Professor McGonagall say, "Ms. Pince said that yesterday Professor Lockhart asked her for a catalogue of library books. She believes that the book list can be made into a magic item, which can automatically tell the corresponding location of the books according to the professor's needs, which can reduce her work. So, I want to apply to the school to refine these magic items. I personally suggest that you do it. It will be a bit difficult for the school library to be managed by Ms. Pince alone."

After Dumbledore heard this, he did not make any move and kept squinting in thought. Professor McGonagall was a little surprised by this. Such a thing should be worth doing. It would only benefit the school and not cause any harm.

Then she heard the first question Dumbledore asked today:

"You just said that Professor Lockhart asked Madam Pince for a catalogue of library books, right?"