章 9: Chapter 9: Daily School Life
Draco was helpless, yes, very helpless.
After losing his initial enthusiasm, he lost interest in most of the courses.
Would a high school student go back to elementary school and listen to the lessons with relish? Unless they were a scumbag.
Today, Draco was obviously not a scumbag. The only class he was interested in now was Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration course, known for its high level of difficulty and complexity, as well as the potential danger it posed.
In addition, Draco wondered what had happened in this timeline. The majority of Slytherin and Gryffindor courses were now being taught together.
"Is this a butterfly effect?" Draco thought.
"Hey, is Professor McGonagall late? I didn't expect that even the usually punctual old woman would be late," Pansy whispered to Draco, pulling on his clothes.
"Shh, have you seen the cat on the table?" Draco quickly hushed Pansy.
With the sound of a bell, the class bell rang. The cat on the table jumped down, transformed in mid-air, and returned to Professor McGonagall when it landed.
"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous spell in your Hogwarts curriculum," Professor McGonagall said. "Anyone who wants to be mischievous in my class can leave now and never come back. I have warned you." She looked at Pansy as she spoke.
"Oh no, she heard me," Pansy lowered her head, trying to hide behind Draco.
"Don't worry, she's not that strict," Draco comforted her.
Soon, the teaching began. With a spell, Professor McGonagall turned the lectern in front of her into a pig and then changed it back again.
The students present were amazed, and Draco was no exception. As someone who has been deeply influenced by materialist education, seeing such scenes never fails to amaze him.
After writing down a lot of difficult notes, Professor McGonagall gave everyone a match and asked them to try to turn it into a needle.
"Professor McGonagall, look, my match is changing!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly. So far, only her match had changed slightly.
"Good," Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly, showing a rare smile. "Gryffindor adds five points!"
Hermione was very happy and raised her head proudly. The Gryffindor students were also very happy. After all, the glory of the college was also their own glory. Some of them even looked at this girl who had brought glory to the college on the first day with admiration.
"Mr. Draco, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought you secretly brought out a new needle. Slytherin, plus ten!" Unfortunately, the Gryffindor students' happiness didn't last long. Compared to Hermione's semi-finished product, Draco had completely completed the match to needle transformation.
Hermione, who had been holding her head high, immediately hung her head down and glanced at Draco, comparing the gap between the two.
"I'm just glad," Pansy whispered with a grin.
"Don't mind, he must have practiced many times at home. It's normal," Harry comforted Hermione from behind. Ron blushed and said nothing, as if thinking about his own family.
"Who have I not lost to in learning yet?" Hermione suddenly lifted her head, and a fierce determination shone in her eyes.
"It looks like I'm still busy with business," Harry replied, shaking his head.
As for Draco, he waved his wand and returned the needle to its original form as if he had just accomplished a minor task. It's true that Draco had practiced similar spells, but this was also a part of his strength.
Of course, even with practice, Draco could only perfect this spell at most three times.
"As long as you have the right tools, there is no magic spell that can't be cast," Draco chuckled to himself. However, he now realizes that pure memory alone is not enough, and he needs to focus on creativity.
There are two types of good students. One is good in the traditional sense and excels at completing tasks assigned by the teacher almost perfectly, but that's all. The other is not only capable of the former but also has unparalleled creativity. By looking at the spells and notes created by Snape, it's clear that intelligence alone is not enough.
"But this kind of thing can't be forced, one can only be a good student in the traditional sense," Draco thought to himself.
The students' most anticipated class is Defense Against Dark Magic, but everyone except Draco is disappointed. Professor Quirrell heavy garlic smell and lack of magic in the class make it difficult for everyone to focus. Draco, however, listens to the lecture with some interest.
"Poor fellow," Draco shook his head.
"Don't you think this guy's class is boring?" Pansy poked Draco's back with a pen from the back row.
"I guess so," Draco replied perfunctorily.
"Talking about resisting vampires is not as good as telling you about 'Twilight'," Pansy looked at him expectantly.
"Please don't make a joke. I don't know who said the garbage plot after listening to it halfway," Draco turned to whisper to her.
"Disgusting little lions," Pansy gave her signature smirk.
"I think I'll continue listening to how to solve vampires with garlic."
"Boring!"
To Draco, the days are very mundane. While other students often struggle with the heavy workload assigned by their professors, Draco excels in his studies and is able to avoid most of the work.
"How can I find these so-called banned books?" Draco stood frozen in front of a row of bookshelves.
For a school bully like Draco, the library is not a usual place to be. As for his two followers, Draco would rather they "spontaneously die" than come to the library.
As for the books available in these libraries, Draco has little interest in them.
"Just a pastime," Draco said as he pulled out a book called "The Rise and Fall of Black Magic" from the bookshelf and looked at it.
"Terrible magic talent, naïve political thought," Draco concluded after reading the book.
Draco thought about it and concluded that the reason for the Dark Lord's failure was that he relied too much on his own strength and did not know how to use his charisma for domination. He only had a small number of die-hard followers who worshipped him crazy, while most people followed him out of fear. His cooperation with some families was also based on mutual interests, which caused his forces to fall apart. Once his own power disappeared, it was not surprising that everything fell apart.
"His miserable childhood led to paranoia, and he pursues the concept of pure blood to rule everything. Wait, that's not right," Draco thought. "Maybe this is just a compromise with those families. The exchange of interests may also be involved." Draco thought about Voldemort's gains and losses in his activities.
"It's a pity," Draco thought. "If I had the opportunity, I would engage in politics in a roundabout way. The people at the Ministry of Magic are really muddled. I really want to use my bewitching skills to become the higher minister and slowly nibble at the Muggle world."
But now, it seems that the Dark Lord has begun to make full use of his bewitching ability.
"Should I report Professor Quirrell to Dumbledore?" Draco fell into thought. "Oh, right, he already figured out that Professor Quirrell was wrong this morning, so let Snape deal with it."
"Excuse me, classmate, could you please let me pass?" Draco suddenly heard a voice interrupting his thoughts, it sounded somewhat familiar.
"Oh, sure," Draco replied, realizing that he had been using the bookshelf to read and was blocking the way of others.
"Thank you," the voice continued.
After a few seconds, Draco heard another whisper.
"It's you!"
Draco had just given way and was about to grab another book, but the whisper caught his attention and he looked up. The first thing he saw was a thick head of unkempt brown hair. It was Hermione, holding a stack of books. It's not surprising to see her in the library a few days before the start of school, as who else would be there?
"It turned out to be the little lion of Gryffindor, well, my pure-blooded self that likes to ravage Muggles and Muggle-born is better off hiding," Draco said sarcastically before turning to leave.
"Wait!" Hermione's voice was louder and urgent. Her face was grim, as if she were struggling with a decision.
"Miss Granger, I must remind you that this is the library, please keep your voice down," the librarian scolded.
"Sorry," Hermione hugged her stack of books tightly.
"That should be said to the person you're disturbing," Draco replied.
"I mean the last time," Hermione said.
"Huh?" Draco raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"I'm really sorry for what happened in the compartment last time. Both myself and my friends had a prejudice against you. After entering in the school, I thought about it a lot and realized that I want to rid the world of evil wizards, not just evil schoolmates and bloodlines. So, I'm here to ask for your forgiveness. I'll make sure to have my friends apologize to you as well," Hermione said, speaking quickly as if she had prepared her apology for a long time.
"Should I say that I'm impressed by your courage to admit your wrongness and then forgive you? Like a fairy tale?" Draco replied, raising an eyebrow.
Hermione's face paled, clearly taken aback by Draco's rejection.
"Just kidding, I'm not that petty. I accept your apology, but you don't have to make your friends apologize. It's not necessary," Draco said, trying to ease the tension.
Hermione let out a sigh of relief, clearly uncomfortable with the apology she had just made.
"Cunning Slytherin is always right," Hermione muttered before saying,
"Thank you."
"Don't be too proud, I will surpass you sooner or later," Hermione said, still thinking about the last Transfiguration class.
"That's really exciting," Draco said with a smile.
"Humph," Hermione huffed before striding away.
On Friday, Pansy hung her head at the dinner table, clearly feeling a bit down.
"The potions class is coming up. What I hate most are those weird bubbly potions. Do you know who our teacher is? I heard it's still the head of our house," Pansy clinging or Draco's arm and asked.
"Don't I mark the key points you might be asked in the first lesson?" Draco asked.
"Unable to remember, do you think you have such a good memory like you, my nerd friend?" Pansy stuck her tongue out mockingly.
"I don't think you've read any of these books at all," Draco replied, showing no mercy with the truth.
"But you don't have to worry, our savior will feel better in the first lesson," Draco added.
"That's really great," Pansy said sarcastically, as if she hoped the world would remain chaotic.
Soon it was time for the potions class, which was held in an underground classroom. It was colder than the main castle building above, and the glass jars lining the walls contained trembling animal specimens soaked in potion.
"It's disgusting," Pansy covered her nose, as if the smell of the potion could leak out through the jar.
"The person who," Draco said.
"Yes, Severus Snape," Pansy said, looking a bit nervous. "He's known for being strict and demanding in his classes. And he has a grudge against Harry, so I heard."
"Well, let's see how it goes," Draco said, shrugging.
As expected, Snape stopped when he reached Harry's name on the roster.
"Oh yes," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Harry Potter, our new student-the famous character."
"You are here to learn the precise science and strict craftsmanship of potions," Snape continued, his voice barely above a whisper, but still carrying a sense of authority. Like Professor McGonagall, Snape also has a way of keeping the classroom orderly and disciplined without much effort.
"Because there is no silly waving of a wand here, many of you won't believe this is magic. I don't expect you to truly appreciate the beauty of a simmering cauldron with white smoke and fragrant aroma. You don't really understand the fluid that flows into people's blood vessels, the magical powers of a heart-pounding, vague will. I can teach you how to increase prestige, brew glory, and even prevent death- but there must be one condition, and that is that you are not the regular, stupid idiot I usually encounter," Snape said in a short opening speech to the class.
After he finished speaking, the whole class was silent.
"I don't know which science institute this lunatic came from," Draco thought to himself, reminded of a Frankenstein he knew in his previous life.
"It's hard to listen to," Pan Xi whispered bitterly.
Harry and Ron glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows. Hermione almost leaned forward in her chair, seeming eager to prove herself, and glanced at Draco as well.
Professor Snape stood at the front of the classroom, staring at the students with his sharp, dark eyes. He was a thin man, with a large hooked nose and straight black hair that reached his shoulders. As he looked over the roster, he stopped when he came to Harry's name. "Ah, Harry Potter," he whispered, "our newest student, the famous character."
"You are here to learn the precise science and strict craftsmanship of potion making," Snape continued, his voice barely above a whisper, but every word was heard clearly by the students. Like Professor McGonagall, Snape had a certain authority that kept the classroom orderly and disciplined.
"Potter," Snape said suddenly, "what will I get if I add daffodil root powder to mugwort infusion?"
Harry looked at Ron, who was equally confused, and then at Hermione, who had her hand raised high.
"I don't know, sir," Harry admitted. Snape sneered in contempt.
"Humph, it seems that fame does not mean everything." He deliberately ignored Hermione's raised hand and continued.
"Let's try again. Potter, if I asked you to find me a bezoar, where would you go looking for it?" Hermione tried to raise her hand even higher without leaving her seat, but Harry had no idea what a bezoar was.
Harry forced himself to look Snape in the eye. While he had read all the books at Dursley's, that didn't mean he could memorize them all.
"Potter, what's the difference between boat-shaped aconite and aureus aconite?" Hermione suddenly stood up, her hand raised towards the ceiling of the underground classroom.
"I don't know," Harry replied honestly.
"This is our savior," Snape said sarcastically.
"Draco, you come and answer my question," Snape then threw the question over to Draco.
"Uh, this script is wrong," Draco thought to himself, still standing up. These questions were not difficult for him.
"Daffodil root powder and wormwood can be mixed together to create a strong sleeping pill called "life and death water." Bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a cow that has a strong detoxification effect. Aconite and Stellera chamaejasme are the same plant, also known as aconit."
Snape, a teacher, praised Draco for knowing this information and awarded him 10 points for Slytherin house.
However, Ron whispered that it might have just been a good collaboration and pointed out that Hermione had her hand raised high.
Snape, who has good hearing, reprimanded Ron for going against the teacher and deducted a point from Gryffindor.
Ron immediately stopped whispering.
"And you, Potter. I hope you will be more serious after going down, so that you can live up to your reputation," Snape said in an exaggerated tone.
"Yes, sir," Harry resisted his impatience, knowing that if he retorted, Gryffindor might suffer another deduction.
However, Harry could not do what he wanted, and today Gryffindor was destined to suffer heavy losses.
As the potions class progressed, Snape divided the students into pairs and instructed them to mix and prepare a simple potion to treat scabies. Snape walked around the classroom, watching them add dry nettles, crush snake fangs, and almost all the students were criticized. Only when standing in front of Draco's crucible would Snape smile a satisfied smile.
"It smells a bit off," Draco said as he sniffed the air. He then noticed the green smoke rising from Neville's feet. "Clear water is like a spring!" Draco quickly cast a spell to try and clean up the spilled potion.
"Idiot!" Snape growled, not at Draco but at Neville. Neville's crucible had been overturned and the potion had almost spread across the classroom floor, but Draco was able to stop it in time.
"Good job, Slytherin earns five points," Snape said to Draco. He then put on a stern expression. "I'll deal with this matter first. Seamus, take him to the hospital wing." Snape then turned to Harry, scowling. "Potter, why didn't you tell him not to include the porcupine quill? Did you think he was wrong when he showed you? Gryffindor loses a point because of you."
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