A Brilliant Answer

Noah stirred the sage and sliced caterpillars in the cauldron, propping his head up with a bored expression.

Evan, Kate, and Luns were in much the same state. Their only amusement was probably watching the famous Mr. Potter get reprimanded by Professor Snape once again.

"Looks like you were right, Luns. He really couldn't answer a single question," Evan said lazily. Of course, he still kept a close eye on the heat beneath his cauldron. He had no desire to scorch the potion.

"Poor thing. Honestly, I don't understand it. Sage and caterpillars mixed with fresh tree sap and water make a potion that attracts owls. Is that really such a difficult question?"

Kate was equally puzzled. The question did not seem difficult at all.

"It really isn't. Maybe Harry is just unevenly skilled."

Noah shrugged. "Take dealing with werewolves, for example. I'm afraid many people only know to burn them with fire. But there's an easier method: prepare some Curse potion for werewolves in advance, brewed with wolf hearts and Reed root. Just one drop is enough to make a werewolf suffer."

"Come on, who would be unlucky enough to run into a werewolf?" Kate looked at Noah speechlessly. "Unless you knew a werewolf was coming after you beforehand, who would brew that stuff for no reason?"

"Yeah, it's like dealing with a Howling Monster. Unless you know in advance, where would you even get Remnant oil? And even if you did know, you still might not be able to find it. I heard witches can eat the stuff, and it's addictive," Evan added.

"Come on, I was just giving an example. Don't take it so seriously. Don't we look like those evil witches from legends, standing here stirring cauldrons?"

"You're a wizard yourself. Why do you have to specifically mention witches? Besides, whether they're evil or righteous, wizards stir cauldrons."

Fine. Noah shook his head helplessly.

These guys were top students, that was true, but their knowledge was limited to the wizarding world. Naturally, they could not understand what Noah meant.

Of course, Noah did not mind. They were right—he was a member of the wizarding world now, too.

"You lot, what are you whispering about over there?"

Just as Noah thought Snape was too busy scolding Harry to bother with them, Snape suddenly turned and shouted in their direction. The little group that had been planning to tease Harry fell silent at once.

"You're quite impressive, discussing how to deal with werewolves and Howling Monsters while I'm reprimanding someone else. Then tell me—what do you get by adding daisy roots and Shrunken fig to sliced caterpillars, followed by a drop of Rat bile and a little Leech juice?"

"Um, Shrinking Solution. It shrinks objects. Also, the Shrunken fig needs to be peeled first, Professor."

Noah looked to either side and found that Evan and the other two had already been intimidated by Professor Snape's presence. Left with no choice, Noah stood and gave the answer.

"Mr. Phileas, have you forgotten that in my class, you must raise your hand and receive my permission before standing up to speak?" Snape's expression remained icy, even though Noah's answer was correct.

"Sorry, Professor. That was my oversight," Noah apologized honestly. Though it hardly seemed like his fault, he had no intention of arguing with Snape over such trivial matters.

"Very good. Your attitude is worth learning from, especially for Mr. Potter." Snape's expression improved slightly, but he did not let Noah off so easily.

"You were just discussing certain monsters. Then tell me, how do you intend to deal with Dementors?"

"Um, the best method is to use the Patronus Charm."

"This is not Defense Against the Dark Arts, and that is not a spell you can master yet. I'm asking about potion knowledge."

"You need Demon's Blood, bicorn Horn powder, and Daffodil root powder to brew Spirit Oil. Of course, if I had the money, I would choose to buy a Moon Dust Bomb. It would be safer."

This knowledge was far beyond the curriculum. After all, first-year wizards were not supposed to be learning such things.

But Noah had the System Library. Besides, his memory had been getting better and better, so he had memorized all of it.

Snape nodded. He naturally knew that what he had asked was beyond the curriculum, and strictly speaking, it belonged to alchemy.

Yet he had not expected the Ravenclaw before him to answer it. It was completely beyond his expectations.

"A brilliant answer. Ten points to Ravenclaw. However, Mr. Phileas, I don't know whether Mr. Potter is unevenly skilled, nor do I care. So you, your partners, or your friends had better refrain from discussing irrelevant matters during my lessons. Understood?"

"I understand, Professor. My apologies again."

"Sit down."

Noah obediently sat down. That had been rather troublesome.

Fortunately, Snape's main target was Harry Potter, with Gryffindor getting dragged down along with him.

Noah, on the other hand, was a Ravenclaw, so he got through it easily. He had even earned Ravenclaw ten points.

The lesson soon came to an end. Aside from the Gryffindor students, who felt as though their classroom experience had been absolutely terrible, Ravenclaw had it much easier.

Hermione in particular felt awful. No matter how often she raised her hand, hoping to answer questions and earn points for her house, Snape simply ignored her.

Meanwhile, Ravenclaw was repeatedly given chances—or rather, Snape directly called on Ravenclaw students to answer questions, and the people he called on happened to be Evan, Kate, and Luns.

Having recovered from their earlier fright, the three little top students naturally did not disgrace themselves. Besides, they had mastered this knowledge long ago.

They answered without the slightest hesitation. Even questions beyond the curriculum, questions that Hermione did not dare raise her hand for, were answered by them with precision and brilliance!

By the end of the lesson, the four people from the same dormitory had earned Ravenclaw a full fifty points!

The Ravenclaw students were overjoyed. In their eyes, the four from Noah's dormitory had always seemed rather strange, because they almost never went to the Common Room to study.

At first, it had only been Noah, but eventually Evan and the other two stopped going as well. For a time, everyone had thought the four of them had fallen behind.

Now, however, it seemed they had not slacked off at all. On the contrary, they had worked even harder and had long since surpassed everyone else!

After class, the four of them planned to go straight to the Room of Requirement to continue studying.

Everything that had happened today had left the other three, aside from Noah, extremely excited. They knew that if they wanted to keep this up, they would have to work even harder.

But when they reached the doorway, a girl stopped them.

"How do you know so much?"