Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 64 Sincerity is the Ultimate Weapon

In the transformative classroom.

Hermione sat in the front row, listening attentively and taking meticulous notes.

Ron, who was behind him, could occasionally catch a word or two, but most of the time his mind was wandering off somewhere else.

Harry rested his head on the table, his fingers pinching the red button pendant hanging around his neck, grinning like a fool.

Loren couldn't concentrate on the lesson. He just stared at Harry and grinned foolishly. He felt like his conscience was being tortured; it was too agonizing.

Before things are over, next week, next week I'll really ask Snape for something from Harry's mother, a picture or something.

"The more difficult the transformation, the more magic is required," Professor McGonagall said from the platform.

Ron perked up his ears when he heard words related to magic.

After the troll incident, the group's magical abilities increased to varying degrees, and they became more adept at casting basic spells. Transfiguration, Charms, and even Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts class became much easier, with many practical aspects becoming more challenging.

Ron had assumed that his magic power had increased the most and that he would become the most powerful. However, after some time, the result was not as Ron had expected.

Loren practices with Hermione on weekends and has a talent for correcting his mistakes in spells. He also practices with Flamel twice a week in the Book of Fantasy and is making rapid progress. He can now use basic spells proficiently.

Hermione has a solid theoretical foundation, has taught herself many spells, and with Loren's guidance, she is better than many second-year students.

Harry was simply gifted. He didn't like reading much, and his theoretical knowledge was just so-so, but once he got his wand in hand, he could always quickly cast spells.

Ron was a little disheartened; what kind of monsters were he surrounded by? However, his own talent was not bad either. His magic power had increased, and after changing his wand, he was no longer self-conscious. His level surpassed most of the first-year students.

After Professor McGonagall finished explaining the theoretical concepts, she asked the students to transform matchboxes into snuffboxes, saying, "This is related to your final exams!"

Hermione focused intently on dealing with the matchbox in front of her, and soon conjured a snuffbox.

The little witch thought it wasn't that simple, so she added various openwork patterns and colorful illustrations to the snuffbox.

Loren's lips twitched as he watched. "Not bad," he thought, "we'll have to see you raise the class average." He casually produced an ordinary snuffbox, then continued slacking off, no longer attempting anything.

Harry and Ron quickly got the hang of it too.

Simo tried cautiously, but everyone around him was an old classmate, and they all kept their distance from him.

Success will not let down anyone who works hard. After tireless efforts, Simo finally—

boom!

He blew himself up and his face was covered in black soot.

"Hahaha!" Dean laughed the loudest, and the other young wizards also laughed happily.

This scene was always a common occurrence when Seamus was around. He'd blown up in Transfiguration class, Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and Charms class; Seamus never missed an opportunity.

After the explosion, everyone felt relieved and reunited with Simo.

Ron leaned in, his tone smug: "Listen to me, when you wave the spell, don't swing it hard, just lift it gently and draw a circle, understand?"

"Oh!" Seamus exclaimed. "Ron Weasley, are you going to change your name to Ron Granger? You're even more annoying than Hermione before."

"Even more annoying than Malfoy!" Dean added.

Malfoy is the most hated person among the young Gryffindor wizards, on par with Professor Snape.

Hermione used to do things like that, but she changed after the troll incident and only gives advice when someone asks for it.

This wasn't the first time Ron had done this; his condescending tone and bossy manner gave him a sense of satisfaction, which made people very uncomfortable.

"I, I..." Ron apologized sheepishly, "I'm sorry."

"You said the same thing in the last class," Neville said timidly.

The atmosphere was a little stiff, and Ron sat back down next to Harry.

"I... I just couldn't help it." Ron realized that he had become the person he hated.

After Harry finished turning the snuffbox into a concoction, he continued to play with the red button, grinning. "Nobody'll remember it. Hermione's our friend now, isn't she?"

Ron nodded. "I'll try my best."

Every time Harry fiddled with the button, every time he giggled, it was torture for Loren's conscience. Loren increasingly felt that lying about someone else's mother was extremely heinous, worse than any prank he had ever played before, and the flames of guilt consumed him.

"I'm such a bastard," Loren thought. He decided to go to Snape this Friday and ask for the real thing. If things continued like this, every time Harry smiled, Loren wanted to slap himself.

……

In the potions class.

Snape wrote down the process of taking the Water of Life and Death on the blackboard, and the students below tried to keep up with Snape's writing speed to take notes.

Snape's blackboard writing differs from the textbook. If you do your homework according to the textbook instead of Snape's blackboard writing, you're in trouble.

The last person to do this was Michael Corner, who ended up copying the blackboard notes for that lesson a hundred times.

After Snape finished writing, he began explaining the theoretical part of the text, referring to the blackboard. Snape always lectured in a monotone tone, with every word sounding like it was spoken in the same voice.

Harry managed to force himself to listen at first, but after a while his gaze began to wander, unfocused. His mind had drifted far away.

He unconsciously placed his hand on his chest, clutching the red glass button, thinking of his mother's image in the Mirror of Erised, and how this button had once been on her. It was as if his mother were with him now.

What a tragedy! Loren couldn't bear to watch this scene; his conscience ached again, and he wanted to slap himself.

Snape stood on the podium and immediately spotted Harry grinning foolishly. He stood out so much among the serious students that no student ever laughed happily in his class.

Snape strode down from the podium, and as usual, his next step was to roll up his sleeves and give Harry a whack on the head, call him up to answer a question that was slightly beyond the scope of the curriculum, and then deduct several points from Gryffindor.

The students below were also familiar with this process and looked at Snape expectantly.

Both Gryffindor and Slytherin were looking forward to it. Slytherin were hoping their Head of House would unleash his power, while Gryffindor were hoping Professor Snape would challenge someone else, so that everyone else would be safe for the rest of the class.

Snape walked up to Harry, his hands itching at the sight of Harry's goofy grin. Just as he was about to make his move, he saw Harry fiddling with the red glass button in his hand and fell silent.

He recognized that button; the other green one was in his pocket.

Snape couldn't understand why Harry was fiddling with the button with that indescribable expression.

He turned his head, glanced at Loren with a complicated expression, and returned to the podium to continue his lecture.

No points deducted? The other students were all surprised. Had Professor Snape changed his ways?

Loren understood what Snape meant; Snape was asking: What did you do?

Loren couldn't answer; his conscience was tormenting him. Tonight, tonight he had to go see Snape.

(End of this chapter)