Basil decided to set his get-rich scheme aside for the time being.
What he needed to do first was distribute the timetable to the other first-year students.
Especially since he could not enter the girls' dormitory.
Fortunately, Hermione truly deserved her reputation as the ultimate overachiever from the original story.
She had gotten up at seven o'clock sharp.
She planned to finish breakfast in the Great Hall, then read in the common room while waiting for Basil.
And so, the timetable problem was solved.
With Ron wearing a gloomy expression, Basil headed to the school infirmary on the second floor with Hermione practically glued to his side.
After that, they met up with Harry, who had already been discharged, and headed straight for the Great Hall on the first floor.
Along the way, aside from some casual chatter,
Harry voiced his doubts. "I think there's something very wrong with Quirrell. You know, I woke up when Hagrid carried me to the Great Hall entrance. I happened to see the look in Quirrell's eyes."
"But after Dumbledore helped him out, he didn't look relieved at all. On the contrary, his eyes were filled with despair. Like the world was ending."
No one answered Harry's question.
Basil simply said that perhaps Voldemort was hiding in Quirrell's turban.
Quirrell had despaired because he had considered telling Dumbledore about it.
Dumbledore's reaction had made him realize he could only keep walking down this dark path.
But no one believed Basil's "guess," even with his King Arthur-like bearing.
Harry directly said that he might have seen it wrong, and that what Basil said was impossible too.
If Dumbledore knew, he definitely would have acted.
Ron went even further. "Compared to Quirrell's turban, Snape's oversized black cloak is more likely to be hiding Voldemort."
Hermione's gaze was gentle, treating it all as a joke from Basil.
She let out a string of giggles.
Basil could only gloomily focus his attention on the castle.
Yet precisely because of that, he discovered something serious along the way.
Over the next few days, this matter continued to trouble him.
Hogwarts's layout was simply too bizarre.
Not only did the staircases move around like they did in the movies, sometimes vanishing halfway through.
But the staircases were not even the real problem.
The doors and landmarks were.
Compared to them, the sheer number of staircases—one hundred and forty-two in total—some narrow and tiny, some swaying unsteadily, some with steps that vanished halfway up, were all minor issues.
First, those doors that were not hidden behind sliding panels or hanging tapestries might look perfectly ordinary, but they were actually full of tricks.
Every door had its own temperament.
Only if you handled them properly would they open.
Some required politeness, some needed to be poked in the right spot, some required rough treatment, some needed tickling, and some opened directly onto a wall, with ghosts waiting inside to scare you.
Those were still the better ones.
Some were not doors at all, but walls that felt like doors, sounded like doors when knocked on, and looked like doors.
Once you had memorized the locations of those doors and staircases,
Something even more ridiculous happened.
Because everything in the castle moved.
The people in the portraits wandered from painting to painting, while suits of armor woke up at night and found new places to stand.
The landmarks he memorized often changed positions overnight.
Because of this, Basil took several wrong turns.
A place he thought was the boys' washroom turned out to be the girls' washroom instead.
Even more absurdly, Professor McGonagall happened to be next door.
If Basil had not suddenly summoned a Boggart and turned it into a fake Voldemort with Snape's face and Voldemort's body to create chaos,
Triggering waves of startled cries,
He would very likely have been caught.
And this was with a complete projection of Hogwarts in his mind.
Well, he had simply panicked and forgotten that he could teleport.
The result was that, under Snape's orders, Filch began strictly inspecting packages to see whether anyone had bought Polyjuice Potion or its ingredients, such as African Tree Snake Skin.
This surprise inspection left many older student couples, who had been using it for a little excitement, bitterly complaining.
Beyond these issues, handling relationships became another major problem for Basil.
Because of Hermione's strict guard, almost no girls were willing to spend much time around him.
After word spread about their conversation in the Sorting waiting room, everyone assumed the two of them were a couple.
He was locked in!
Fortunately, he was only a first-year.
There was also something Basil had only just realized: before Hermione had officially gotten to know him, she had already offended every first-year student.
Even the Ravenclaw first-years who shared common interests with Hermione were no exception.
Only older students would pay attention to her.
So aside from him, Hermione only had Harry, Ron, and Neville as friends.
No wonder Ron had complained in the original story that Hermione did not have a single friend.
Logically speaking, book-loving Hermione should have had at least some Ravenclaw friends in the library, right?
So that was why.
Basil suddenly realized that, judging solely by how the two had behaved since enrolling,
Hermione was like the protagonist of a classic face-slapping wish-fulfillment novel.
Lowly bloodline, driven and ambitious, constantly humiliating others, and able to master anything the moment she learned it.
Harry, the original protagonist, was more like a villainous senior brother.
Noble bloodline, Ron as his lackey, admired by everyone around him, not truly incompetent inside but still unworthy of his own reputation.
Basil had no plans to change anything about their relationships.
After all, Hermione was a high-weight character recognized by the world itself, and she had given Basil the golden Sorcery Doctor Echo.
If they really fell out, Snape, who shipped the two of them, would not let Basil off.
Then Basil would not receive special treatment in Potions Class.
You heard that right. Special treatment.
In Friday's Potions Class, Harry was still criticized just like in the original story.
But unlike before, when Harry could not answer and Hermione kept raising her hand,
Hermione did not receive an angry, "Sit down."
Instead, Snape said, "Miss Granger, you answer."
After Hermione answered correctly, he continued, "Potter, it seems your ability does not match your reputation. Gryffindor loses two points. You should learn from Miss Granger. Since Miss Granger answered correctly, Gryffindor gains one point."
During the following lesson on brewing a simple potion to cure boils,
Basil was surprised to find that his Potions Mastery talent had awakened.
Harry's status panel also changed after he began brewing his first potion.
His Potions Mastery—Weak awakened as well.
After that, Basil casually saved Neville, who, for some reason, had been deliberately intimidated by Snape and made a mistake.
He earned a point as well.
Though Snape took it back from Harry afterward.
"Not helping a classmate. Harry Potter loses one point!"
After Potions Class ended,
Ron was very dissatisfied.
"How come you two didn't lose points, and even gained some?!"
Although Hermione pointed out that Gryffindor had still lost points overall,
Ron remained somewhat indignant as the four of them headed toward Hagrid's place.
However, Potions Class was not Basil's favorite.
Although Plant Affinity and Potions Mastery made him exceptionally skilled at brewing potions.
The moment his Magic Field touched the boiling contents of a cauldron, he could control the reactions within.
He still preferred Transfiguration Class.
Transfiguration had been their first lesson after the school term began, on Monday.
Professor Cat had not turned into a cat and deliberately perched on the desk like she did in the movies.
That greatly disappointed Basil, who had wanted to pretend he did not know and pet the cat.
Just as the friend data indicated, Transfiguration really did lean more toward rationality.
Although its underlying principle was still basically I reckon it works like this,
The thought required during casting was clear, definite, and logical.
Take the matchsticks they were transforming in this lesson as an example.
You needed to understand what a matchstick was made of: wood and a little red tip. You did not need to know in detail that the tip consisted of oxidizer, catalyst, and flammable material.
You had to clearly establish that you were turning it into a needle, then outline the needle's size, thickness, and color in your mind.
If you were more meticulous, you could even picture patterns on it.
Only then would the Transfiguration work.
More importantly, all Transfiguration actually used the same spell.
At most, you added what you wanted to transform afterward.
This made Basil spend one hundred gems on the spot to create a new Spell Card: Transfiguration.
Before you continue