Harry Potter: This senior is pretty strong

Just like last year's Christmas holiday, the train wasn't very crowded this year.

Qin Yu, holding Hermione's hand, didn't walk far down the corridor before finding an empty private booth.

After putting their luggage away, the two took out their books, sat facing each other, and read their own.

The journey is a bit long, so we need to find something to do, right?

What they often did was read books together in the library; now it's just a different place.

Of course, it's different from being in a library, since there's no one else in the private room, and no patrolling staff.

This makes people feel much more relaxed and at ease.

So, not long after, Hermione took off her shoes and put her two feet, which were covered in thick socks, on the opposite side.

This caused some annoyance to Qin Yu, who was sitting opposite him, because those two feet would sometimes be on the chair, sometimes on his legs, sometimes swinging back and forth, or poking around with their toes. They were just restless, even more so than in the library.

Unable to bear it any longer, Qin Yu grabbed one of them and viciously tickled its soles a few times as punishment.

However, this was of no use. After a while, the two feet sneaked out again, and the old tricks resurfaced, making it impossible to guard against.

There was nothing he could do but let it be.

However, when someone knocks on the door and comes in, Hermione will quickly pull her feet back and slip them into her delicate strapless leather shoes, while pretending to be engrossed in reading—which she actually is.

Well, as Qin's younger sister, she is well-behaved, cute, quiet, and intelligent... but her persona cannot be ruined.

"...So that's how it is. I always thought it was because I hadn't mastered the dosage of the potion recipe, but I didn't realize it was because the two drugs needed to be added alternately... Thank you, Qin, I've really learned a lot from you!"

"You're welcome, Elvis. Feel free to come to me anytime if you have any questions."

"OK, all right."

"Would you like a cup of tea, Elvis?"

"No need, Qin. I've disturbed your reading for too long. I think I should go back. Bye, Qin! Bye, Hermione!"

Goodbye, Elvis!

Goodbye, Elvis!

After asking Qin Yu about potions for half an hour, his roommate Elvis finally waved goodbye to the two of them and left the private room.

After taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat, Qin Yu put down the cup and thought to himself, "It seems that the subtext of 'serving tea to see guests off' is also useful in the West."

Just as he was about to have another drink, Hermione snatched the cup away. The little girl tilted her head back and gulped down several mouthfuls, completely abandoning her quiet and obedient demeanor from before.

"I'm so thirsty... This Elvis has so many problems!" Hermione couldn't help but complain after putting down her cup.

"Weren't you listening very attentively just now?" Qin Yu said irritably.

—When he was explaining to Elvis just now, a certain little witch stood on tiptoe and craned her neck to listen. When she got excited, she couldn't help but nod, and Qin Yu's head was bumped by her several times.

Qin Yu took the cup back and, as he wished, drank a few more sips.

After drinking it, I smacked my lips a few times and muttered to myself, "Why does it taste like strawberry?"

Oh, this girl just ate two pieces of candy.

Seeing that there was only a little water left in the cup, Qin Yu simply drank it all to avoid spilling it later when the train was bumping around.

Yes, it does have a slightly sweet strawberry flavor.

……

Several more familiar faces arrived in the private room, including Cousin Moni, who came to help her friend get an autograph; Senior Wood, who came to discuss training arrangements after the holiday with Qin Yu; and classmates A, B, C, and D, who came to drop by, chat, and express their enthusiasm.

By the time Cedric from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team left, it was already 2 p.m., and by then, not many people were coming.

Qin Yu and Hermione took out the food they had with them and bought some other things from the sales cart before starting their slightly late lunch.

After eating, Hermione's eyelids started to droop, and she was incredibly sleepy.

So she climbed onto Qin Yu's seat, rested her head on his lap, and lay down.

After wriggling for a while, the girl finally found the most comfortable position and closed her eyes to take a nap with a contented look on her face.

Qin Yu pinched her delicate nose, and could only helplessly accept his fate of being used as a pillow.

He wasn't sleepy at all. After resting with his eyes closed for a while, he picked up the book about alchemy again.

Since receiving Professor Swinton's letter that day, Qin Yu has become less eager to research "alchemy communication." In his spare time, he mainly reads related books and rarely tries to wield the alchemy longsword anymore, because progress has indeed been slow.

The book I'm looking at today isn't some profound ancient alchemical text; rather, it's a more theoretical notebook—it's one of Principal Dumbledore's books, which he bought years ago when he traveled to the North and casually tossed to Qin Yu for reference.

"Sigh, Old Deng is right. This book is full of grand principles, but there's nothing useful in it. At least include an alchemy recipe or something, so I can conjure a magic stone by hand."

After searching for a while, Qin Yu felt he hadn't gained anything and couldn't help but complain.

"Hmm?" A girl's mumbled voice came from below, as if she were talking in her sleep, "Where are we? Have we arrived yet, Qin? Daddy, are you here to pick us up?"

They were clearly awakened by Qin Yu's voice.

Qin Yu reached out and covered her eyes, which she was trying to open, and said softly, "It's still early, go back to sleep."

"Hmm, then I'll sleep a little longer~mua~" the girl mumbled again.

Qin Yu felt a warm, gentle touch on his palm. He withdrew his hand and noticed that it was slightly damp.

Obviously, turning the pages at this point would wet the paper, so Qin Yu rubbed two fingers of his other hand together a few times to spread the moisture and speed up the evaporation.

Once his palms had dried again, he continued to flip through the book.

Then, his eyes swept over a seemingly ordinary sentence that he had read many times:

It's better to forge one ounce of good steel than one hundred pounds of scrap iron!

"Scrap iron" and "good steel"—these are just common, everyday terms, they're not sophisticated at all," he thought to himself.

One pound in the imperial system is sixteen ounces, so one hundred pounds is one thousand six hundred ounces. Therefore, one hundred pounds of scrap iron is smelted into one ounce of steel, which is a reduction of one thousand six hundred times.

Qin Yu subconsciously began to do conversions and comparisons in his mind, imagining what a large block of iron would look like if it were shrunk by 1,600 times.

It will probably grow to the size of a thumb.

The contrast is quite striking and leaves a lasting impression.

As his thoughts wandered, Qin Yu vaguely felt that he might have grasped something crucial, but for a moment he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"...The method of combining alchemy and meditation that Stephen described is essentially a category similar to 'spiritual alchemy'..."

The words Dumbledore once said seemed to echo in my ears again.

"Mental alchemy... one hundred pounds of iron, shrunk to one ounce of steel... alchemy... shrinking... concentration... concentrated good stuff... stop, stop, stop, Pan Changjiang, don't talk in my head..."

Qin Yu muttered to himself, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer, and his emotions involuntarily becoming more and more agitated.

"No way, it really is that simple?"

In the end, he became somewhat uncertain, unsure if things would turn out as he thought, but he also felt it was definitely worth a try and was very much looking forward to it.

Unexpectedly, he looked down and saw a pair of eyes quietly watching him—it was Hermione, who had been woken up by him again.

Hermione, after being woken up, did not make a sound. She simply watched him quietly as he talked to himself, afraid of interrupting his thoughts.

Seriously, she's so well-behaved!

Qin Yu couldn't help but cup her small face in his hands and gently kiss her smooth forehead—well, it was just a courtesy, which is quite normal in the West.

"Have you thought through your question?" Hermione asked, blinking.

"I haven't thought it through completely, but I do have a general idea," Qin Yu replied with a smile, his tone relaxed.

"Oh, that's good." Hermione smiled happily, pleased for him.

Then, she stretched out her arms, hooked them around Qin Yu's neck, and used the leverage to sit up.

“You just spoke a lot of Eastern languages, and I didn’t understand a word, except for something about ‘Pang Chenzhang.’ What does that mean? Is it related to alchemy?” Hermione asked curiously while stretching her stiff joints.

Qin Yu was slightly puzzled, but then realized that she was actually saying "Pan Changjiang," only her pronunciation was slightly off.

How is he supposed to explain this? He can't exactly say it's a sketch comedy actor, can he? Even people from the South don't understand Northeastern sketch comedy, so how could a Londoner like him possibly understand it?

"Yes, he's a mysterious alchemist from the East, nicknamed 'The Never-Stopping Little Top'!" Qin Yu could only make it up.

"Oh, what a strange nickname." Hermione didn't pay much attention to it, but she thought the nickname was quite unusual.

Qin Yu shrugged, letting the topic drop by giving it a cold shoulder.