Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying!

Theo nodded: "That's right! I feel like I can write any paper from now on—not just six inches, but even six feet!"

Ryan paused, thought for a moment, and said seriously, "Six feet won't do! Six feet is still too much; I can't write that."

The three of them couldn't help but laugh.

Chapter 11 History of Magic

The afternoon class was History of Magic, attended by Ravenclaw and Slytherin students together. Sitting slightly in front of Wade was a boy with light blond hair, accompanied by two chubby little followers. Wade recognized the boy as Draco Malfoy, the minor antagonist who clashed with the protagonist for seven years in the original stories. However, Slytherin and Ravenclaw had a decent relationship, and Malfoy didn't spray poison at everyone he saw. On the contrary, aside from his somewhat arrogant manner and his tendency to subtly flaunt his family background and wealth, he was generally polite in the classroom.

However, his attitude towards his archenemy, Harry Potter, is certainly different.

When Professor Binns appeared in the classroom through the wall, Malfoy was still badmouthing Harry Potter to his cronies: "He's always showing off that scar on his head like it's something special—and hanging out with those stinky Weasleys, reeking of their shabby house—"

The Ravenclaws around them turned their heads and quietly distanced themselves from the Slytherins.

Regardless of what happens in the future, Harry Potter remains a hero in the hearts of many wizards, and the children in these schools have basically grown up listening to his stories. Draco Malfoy's words naturally offended some people, but at the same time, they were also reminding others of some facts that had been covered up.

“I heard that Draco Malfoy’s father—I mean Draco Malfoy’s father—was a Death Eater who followed Void—” Michael whispered to Wade, “It’s said that after Void was defeated by Harry Potter, his father claimed he was under the Imperius Curse and donated a large sum of money to the Ministry of Magic to escape imprisonment. Judging from his appearance, it’s clear his father still harbors resentment towards Harry Potter for defeating his master, which is why he’s been influenced by him so much…”

Wade shook his head inwardly. He knew that Draco Malfoy probably hadn't thought that much about it. He seemed to have initially wanted to befriend Harry Potter, but his arrogant attitude made Harry Potter lose face—how could the arrogant young master have suffered such humiliation? That's why he persisted in opposing the savior.

“Don’t take it lightly, and don’t get close to the Malfoys,” Michael warned. “Their family is the most bloodline-conscious among the Twenty-Eight Holy Races.”

"The Twenty-Eight Holy Races?" This touches upon a blind spot in Vader's knowledge.

“There are twenty-eight pure-blood families, none of whom have Muggle ancestors, and none of them have intermarried with Muggles.” Michael said nonchalantly, “But my dad says it’s all nonsense, because many of the families listed have Muggle ancestors, or they claim to have Muggle ancestors.”

........................

It must be said, the History of Magic was an incredibly boring class. Their teacher, the ghostly Professor Binns, lectured in a hypnotic voice, reciting from the textbook without asking questions or caring what the students were doing. His voice was muffled and unclear. Within five minutes, half the students were slumped over, and the remaining half were either dozing off or secretly drawing squares and playing board games on their parchment notebooks.

Wade, however, blocked out Professor Binns' hypnotic voice and began drawing a timeline on paper, listing important dates, historical figures, and major events in magical history—the very things that wizarding history exams test. On Wade's desk lay a copy of "Hogwarts: A History of the School," borrowed from the library. Comparing the two, one couldn't help but wonder about the epic adventures and struggles of Hogwarts' four founders throughout history, and the role Hogwarts played in the more than a thousand years that followed.

History itself is actually very interesting, but Professor Binns made this lesson utterly uninteresting.

As soon as get out of class ended, Professor Binns' voice abruptly ceased, slowly drifting away through the wall. Wade woke Michael, and the two went to the library together to complete their history of magic assignment—a one-foot-long paper on the reign of terror by the demon Americus.

“Nobody at Hogwarts is more diligent than you,” Michael muttered as he did his homework. “I bet the other students wait until the very last day to start their assignments!”

Before the words were finished, a swaying figure passed by the two of them—Hermione was carrying a thick stack of books. When she saw Wade, she stopped, put the books on the table, and Michael felt the whole desk shake.

"Hi, Wade," Hermione greeted, sitting down immediately and asking, "How's Ravenclaw?"

“Aside from the sheer number of stairs to climb, there’s nothing wrong with it,” Wade said. “Hermione, this is Michael Corner. Michael, this is Hermione Granger, we met on the train.”

"Hello." Hermione, with the fierce enthusiasm of a little lion, extended her hand directly: "Are you also a Ravenclaw?"

Michael glanced at the height of the stack of books, swallowed hard, shook hands, and hesitated before saying, "Maybe...maybe?"

In the presence of these two, he felt deeply that he might not be worthy of calling himself Ravenclaw.

"—Maybe?" Hermione frowned.

Feeling the bloodline suppression of some kind of food chain, Michael inexplicably shrank a little. He asked in a low voice, "Can I ask... why did you bring so many books? You're not planning to read them all, are you?"

“Of course! These are the books I plan to read this week,” Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Michael, his face ashen, looked at Wade with a questioning gaze—what's going on? A week? Even more reckless than you?

Wade raised an eyebrow at him slightly.

Michael stopped complaining about Wade dragging him to do homework and focused on finishing the rest of his paper. Wade, having already finished his paper, continued creating his timeline.

“Oh, that’s a very useful method.” Hermione peeked over and suggested, “But I think it would be even more enlightening to look at it in conjunction with Muggle history.”

“Well, I plan to add that later.” Wade pushed his completed part towards her to show her: “You’ve read more books than I have, could you take a look and see if there’s anything in the beginning that needs to be revised?”

“Let me see.” Hermione didn’t refuse and examined it carefully before saying, “Here, the exact time of the wand’s creation is unknown. Melena Simms’ main contribution was researching the magical properties of eighteen types of wand wood, proposing the wand compatibility theory and the Simms formula…”

Two years later, the Ollivander family began making wands, and to this day, the best wandmakers are still from the Ollivander family. I think this is also a point worth considering…”

The quill pen flew across the parchment as Mrs. Pince glanced over every now and then, seemingly ready to kick them out if they started making a ruckus.

Michael, rushing to finish his paper, felt increasingly insignificant. After listening for a while, he silently pulled out a piece of paper, preparing to copy the revised timeline of the history of magic by Wade. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he nudged Wade with his elbow, whispering, "Look!"

Theo was seen peeking out of the library door, probably having just returned from his herbalism class, still covered in greenhouse soil. Mrs. Pince wouldn't let them in. Meeting Wade and Michael's gaze, Theo waved happily, signaling them to leave.

Wade said goodbye to Hermione and packed his things with Michael before heading out. Seeing Ryan and Theo standing at the door, looking dirty, he asked, "Is something urgent?"

The two Hufflepuffs exchanged a glance, and Ryan gestured with his chin: "You tell us, it was you who brought it up with Professor Sprout."

Theo chuckled, "Wade, didn't you say this morning you wanted to find a quiet place to practice spells? Professor Sprout, who teaches Herbalism, is our Hufflepuff Headmaster. I stayed after class to help him, and afterwards I mustered up the courage to ask him—"

Chapter 12 Cleaned Up

"You asked the professor?" Michael asked in surprise. "After taking Professor Snape's class, you still dared to ask the professor?"

Theo smiled: "Professor Sprout is different; she's exceptionally kind. And I think it would be better to ask for the professor's permission first rather than practicing secretly, right? Besides, practicing spells isn't a bad thing."

"And then? Professor Sprout just provided us with a place?" Wade asked.

“Yes.” Theo nodded. “An abandoned, empty classroom. Professor Sprout said it would definitely meet our requirements.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go! Let’s go take a look!” Michael said cheerfully—he had long since wanted to leave the suffocating library.

Just as Wade was about to leave, he suddenly turned back to look.

In the vast library, Hermione was engrossed in her book, looking rather lonely.

Wade recalled that at this time, Hermione didn't seem to have any friends.

"Wait a moment," he said to the others, "I'll call someone else."

The book on the table was tapped twice. Hermione looked up and saw Wade smiling at her, saying, "Hermione, we're going to practice spells together. Do you want to come?"

........................

"Hogwarts was the first magic school to be established. A long time ago, almost all the underage wizards in Europe studied at Hogwarts. But later, other magic schools were established, and many wizards chose to move to America, where their children attended Ilvermorny School."

As Theo climbed the stairs, he said breathlessly, "So... Hogwarts can normally accommodate one or two thousand students and hundreds of professors. But now there are only two or three hundred people, so many classrooms are idle. For the students' safety, the school has hidden most of the abandoned classrooms."

“Professor Sprout told us it was an unused Charms classroom, and it should be quite spacious,” Ryan added. “It was on the third floor, behind the portrait of Miss Claudia with an umbrella.”

After searching along the corridor for a while, the group finally found the portrait in the corridor near the west tower.

On a meadow covered in wildflowers, a gentle breeze blew. A blonde girl, holding a white umbrella with pink flowers, gazed wistfully into the distance, her face turned to the side as she faced the crowd.

Ryan tapped the left side of the portrait three times with his wand and said the command: "Sunshine, Golden Daisy."

The girl lifted her skirt and walked to the side. The portrait opened, and the group went inside one after another. After the portrait closed, the blonde girl changed the direction she was facing when she opened her umbrella, and it began to drizzle in the portrait.

The classroom had been abandoned for who knows how long; a thick layer of dust covered the floor, and some desks and chairs were scattered haphazardly, along with a few old books and discarded parchment. A row of wooden shelves lined one wall, empty and even broken in several places. In the corner lay piles of targets for practicing spells, most of them also broken.

"Alright, looks like we need to clean up before practicing." Hermione rolled up her sleeves. "Who's going to fetch a basin of water?"

"Me!" Theo volunteered, "I'll go find some cleaning tools first."

"Why not ask the school's house-elves to help clean it up?" Michael said lazily. "You know Hogwarts has a bunch of house-elves, right?"

Ryan had already bent down and picked up a chair that had fallen over.

“Wait a minute, everyone.” Wade stopped Theo, who was about to leave, and asked the others, “We’re here to practice spells—why don’t we start by cleaning up this classroom?”

"What? No way?" Michael looked at him incredulously.

“To clean it up and restore it to its original state, let’s start with these two spells.” Vader looked at Ryan and said, “Even moving tables and chairs can only be done with the Levitation Spell.”

“Okay! It’s a big project! But it sounds interesting,” Theo said with a smile.

Ryan thought for a moment, then knocked the chair he had just straightened over back down. He waved his wand: "Clean it up!"

The table was a little cleaner, but there was still obvious dirt in the crevices.

Wade blinked.

“Ryan, read it again,” Wade said.

So Ryan used the Cleansing Charm again, but the effect wasn't very noticeable.

This time, Vader was certain he saw it very clearly—when Ryan waved his wand, he vaguely saw another arc, the two overlapping, similar yet different, making him clearly realize why Ryan's spell hadn't worked as intended.

It's like when you're playing a game, a cheat program calculates the best route and attack angle for you.

“Ryan, when you cast the spell, raise your wand slightly, and finish it more decisively.” Wade demonstrated: “Also, pronounce ‘Scourgify’—the ‘gi’ should be softer. Try it again.”

Ryan paused for a moment—perhaps because Hufflepuff naturally trusted Ravenclaw's intellect more—and offered no suggestions, instead waving his wand according to Vader's modified version: "Clean it up!"

The table suddenly became shiny, as if even a fly couldn't stand on it, and even the floor underneath became clean.

Ryan stared wide-eyed at his wand, then at Vader, and murmured, "How did you do that?"

The others had much the same reaction, all crowding around to look at the table. Theo even bent down and touched it repeatedly, exclaiming in amazement, "Ryan! I had no idea! You're a magic genius!"

“No—it’s not because of me—” Ryan said, somewhat bewildered. He waved his wand again, but because he was too confused, it didn’t have the same effect as before.

Vader didn't speak. He used the spell himself, but didn't see any extra arcs—just as his eyes could only see the names above other people's heads, but not his own.

But his experience guiding Ryan gave him a clear understanding of what was right, so his spellcasting was flawless, and the area cleansed was even larger.

Wade thought for a moment, then had the others use the Cleansing Charm as well. Unsurprisingly, they saw the thin golden arcs again. Even Hermione's spell wasn't perfect; it was just closer to the standard than the others.

He guided them one by one, bringing their spells closer to perfection. In the process, his own understanding deepened, until later he could cast a perfect cleansing spell with a casual wave of his wand, without even needing to chant.

If the cheat code had a name, Vader felt he might have a "good teacher system"—he could glance at the top of a student's head and know which one to call on; even if a group of people were casting spells at the same time, he could tell who was serious and who was just going through the motions; in one-on-one instruction, he could make targeted adjustments so that students could master a spell in the shortest amount of time.