[Harry Potter] Studying Abroad at Hogwarts

As everyone knows, studying abroad is a race packed with overachievers. Countless academic grinders fight tooth and nail to get into top universities, each submitting an application more mind-blowing than the last.

In 2019, a domestic study-abroad agency, desperate to make money, racked its brains and opened up a new track: Hogwarts.

"Britain's number one university, on par with Cambridge and Oxford!" "The alma mater of every Minister for Magic in Britain! A cradle of elite talent! The only choice for studying abroad!" "A thousand-year-old castle, outstanding faculty, a Wizengamot Chief as headmaster, and a teaching team that includes an Animagus, a former Head of the Auror Office, a Potions Master, and a genuine Seer. Unparalleled educational resources!"

Lured in by all the hype, countless students eagerly applied. After a series of complicated procedures, the study-abroad agency sent a group of China's top academic grinders to Hogwarts, disguised as eleven-year-old children with Shrinking Solution. Among them were:

- Hermione's future nightmare, the top student: A genius high schooler who's been number one in her grade since childhood. She scored 8.0 on IELTS and has already studied Hogwarts textbooks up to third year.

- The money-powered one, rich guy: A young master sent abroad to polish his credentials. Every item he owns is custom-made and engraved with his name. His family even bought him his own House-elf.

- The sports scholarship student, champion girl: A national team hopeful, forced to leave her team and learn to control her magic after she couldn't stop herself from using spells to put spin on the ball during games. Disciplined and fiercely competitive, she insists on winning even when playing Five in a Row with little kids.

- The ordinary genius idea machine, ruthless girl: After graduating from university, she applied to study abroad because the agency told her Hogwarts' N.E.W.T.s certificates were equivalent to master's degrees. She seems like a normal, highly sociable academic grinder, but she has a habit of coming up with outrageous schemes on a whim.

- Not an academic grinder, the only ordinary person, bunny girl: An ordinary family, ordinary academic ability, ordinary looks. She simply applied for an ordinary government-sponsored study-abroad program and somehow got in. Without paying a penny in tuition, she somehow ended up packed into a carriage full of academic grinders. IELTS? You mean IELTS? Well, um... does passing the CET-4 count?

The academic grinders came to Hogwarts for their own reasons. They soon discovered that it was a blue ocean with no other academic grinders in sight.

What, you get a special contribution award just for killing a basilisk once?!

What, you get the House Cup just for catching a Death Eater?!

What, you get a scholarship just for beating up Voldemort?!

Before long, the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix were left bewildered: Wait, if you international students catch all the Death Eaters, what are we supposed to fight?

Soon, the international students, who'd been slaughtering their way through everything, discovered another problem:

Wait, why are you saying it's 1991 right now?

[Reading guide]

This story is also known as: "The Study-Abroad Agency Ruined Hogwarts"; "I've Already Started Researching the Goblet of Fire's Competitors"; "I Got Perfect Scores on My Final Exams for Seven Years Straight. Why Don't You Give It a Try?"; "Snape Declares: Slytherin Is the Best House for International Students. The Others Are All Slacking Off"; "Taking Down Voldemort Will Make My Resume Even Better. My Job Hunt Back Home Is a Sure Thing Now"

An ensemble comedy with magical social deduction.

Thanks to [Wo Du Nanxing] for suggesting the title!

Theme: If you don't study hard while you're young, you'll regret it when your hair turns white