Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 1: The London Orphan

"If you insist on going to Hogwarts, then you'll have to pay for your own tuition and fees! The orphanage isn't going to give you a single penny!"

"I understand, Anna the caregiver."

……

Sheen watched as Anna, the caregiver, walked into the common room and gently closed the door.

If you make too much noise and Anna's caregiver thinks you have a problem with her, dinner will be changed from cheap pork sausage to baked bean bread.

If you don't drink tap water, that stuff can choke you to death.

But the tap water was never clean, and drinking too much of it would make him sick. Once he got sick, in this poor orphanage in the southern suburbs, death awaited him.

Why does Sheen know all this so clearly? Because the original owner of this body died of illness in this way.

Disease, extreme cold, and malnutrition all claimed his life, a lesson that "Sheen," who had traveled from the previous winter, had always taken to heart.
He tried to drink cheap black tea, and he would even fight for a cup of instant coffee from older children, even if it would cause him to lose sleep for a day or two.

Over the past six months, he has come to understand his situation.
It is now the end of August 1991.

This is Croydon District in the Harry Potter world.
One of the poorest areas in London.

The Holliss orphanage where he lived was the poorest of all orphanages.

why?

Because there is only one orphanage here, and it was opened for political achievements.

Just like the England he knew from his previous life.

In late 1990, the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher stepped down.

Her Thatcherism brought about economic changes, but also significantly exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor.

The financial district benefited from deregulation, and the wealth of the gentry surged.
Traditional industrial areas and impoverished inner-city regions face unemployment and cuts in public services.

This is especially evident in the Croydon district.

The Holliss orphanage where he works has not received any decent funding for five years, which has led to financial difficulties. Each child not only lacks access to safe drinking water, but also only has a thin blanket to get through the winter.

Under such circumstances, if he hadn't been able to attend Hogwarts, he might not have even lived to adulthood, given his consistently poor health.

Even a slight cold or fever could be fatal to him. This is not to say that London's medical care is backward, but rather that those harsh caregivers may not be able to "detect" a sick child in time.

“Hogwarts is tuition-free, and as for tuition and fees, I also have a grant that Professor McGonagall applied for.”

Sheen took out a bag from the deepest part of the iron bunk bed, which contained 143 Galleons, a wand, some robes, and other items.

He strictly adhered to the minimum standards listed on the enrollment list, and even so, it still cost him 157 Galleons. This left him with less than half of his savings for the entire academic year.
Tomorrow is the first day of school at Hogwarts.

"I have to hurry, otherwise I won't be able to get a scholarship if I don't perform well enough... I definitely won't have enough Galleons..."

When we received the acceptance letters and went shopping last time, Professor McGonagall intentionally mentioned this reward, but it was only for outstanding young wizards.

Will Sheen perform exceptionally well?

The chances were slim; after all, he had practiced the Levitation Spell five hundred times before he finally learned it.

Fortunately, he had a cheat code.

[Name: Sheehan Green]

[Identity: Wizard]

Title: None

[Proficiency]

[Levitation Spell: Apprentice Level (1/300)]

[Fluorescent Charm: Apprentice Level (1/300)]

Cleansing Charm: Not yet unlocked (27/30)

[Three apprentice-level spells can unlock the apprentice-level title in the field of spells]

[Advanced: Three beginner-level spells can unlock beginner-level titles in the field of spells]

……

Yes, Sheen has a proficiency panel with very useful functions. Correct practice earns you bonus attempts, and apprentice-level spells only require 30 correct practices. Three apprentice-level spells also unlock an apprentice-level title.

It seems easy.
Even something as simple as this took Sheen two months to barely complete, averaging one and a half correct practices a day. His magical talent was, to say the least, appalling; perhaps it was due to his transmigration.

He suspected that the magical world, whom he had never met, was targeting him.

Although the magical world probably won't have time to bother with him.

"Today, we must unlock the title!"

With confidence, Sheen took out his wand, then carefully stepped onto the raised floorboards and peeked out through the drafty single-pane window.

The Victorian semi-detached house, located in the impoverished southern suburbs, has fallen into silence.

"Good, they're all asleep. As long as we're careful, we won't be discovered."

If the original owner left him anything useful, it was this independent, secluded single dormitory room.

Although it was allocated because of fear of disease transmission, it is undoubtedly a good thing for Sheen now.

This means he has enough private space to practice magic.

"Scourgify!"

Sheen clearly recited the spell into the dirty poster and waved his wand in an S-shape.
Unfortunately,

The number of times displayed on the panel has not increased.

Sheen didn't care and chanted the spell and waved his wand again.

It wasn't until he learned it himself that Sheen came to understand the obscurity and difficulty of magic.

For example, in this cleansing spell, where should the emphasis be? How strong should it be? What kind of S-shape should the hand gestures form—large or small? Where should it be faster, and where should it be slower?
Sheen knew that "Scour" meant to wash, and "ify" meant to make something clean.

Therefore, his pause should be between Scour and ify, and as for that S-shaped gesture, we can only guess.

Fortunately, he was able to judge success or failure based on whether his proficiency increased, and he learned from his past successful practice.

“Scour-g-ify!”

Sheen recited the spell for the fifth time and, based on experience, waved his wand.
"Start faster, then slower, and as for the final arc, it needs to be larger..."

Sheen muttered to himself as he swung his wand, strictly following his own successful methods.

Suddenly, a light shone brightly, and the stains on the poster on the table disappeared instantly!

[You practiced the Cleansing Charm to a beginner level, proficiency +3]

[Cleansing Charm Unlocked]

[A new Spell Realm title has been unlocked, please check it out.]

[A wizard talent has been unlocked, please check.]

It worked!
Sheen picked up the freshly cleaned poster, examined it carefully, and couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of magic.

As for the entry-level standard, just like the different effects of spellcasting, the standard for correct practice is also different, divided into apprentice and beginner.

An apprentice gains 1 point of proficiency, while a beginner gains 3 points. As for whether there are any standards after the beginner level, Sheen doesn't know. Given his magical talent, even reaching the beginner level would be a blessing from Merlin.

"Take a look at the new title."

Sheen eagerly opened the panel, where three lines of text had been refreshed:

[Title: Spell Newbie]

[Slightly increases awareness of spells and slightly enhances spell talent.]

Sheen continued reading.

[Wizard Sheen, Spellcasting Talent: Green (Blessed by the Spellcasting Novice title; original talent was White) Note: Normal wizards have Green]

Sheen gasped.
White pollution?!
No wonder he can't learn spells; his talent is so great that even Sheen would have to praise it.

Fortunately, he had a cheat code; otherwise, it's hard to imagine how difficult his future studies would have been.

After a brief examination, Sheen's gaze became even more determined.

If you lack talent, then keep trying!
Let me see your limits, panel, add proficiency!

(End of this chapter)