Hogwarts: Please, Just Graduate Already!

"I wrote it very clearly: add Flobberworm mucus. You put the entire worm in. What did you think you were doing, cooking?

"Tsk, what's the difference between this and cooking?" Wayne muttered under his breath. Weren't they just processing ingredients now?

Put the ingredients into the pot in order, turn the heat from high to low, then turn it back up at the end to reduce the sauce.

And there you had it—a pot of freshly brewed green mucus! "Hannah, what are you doing? Don't put that in!"

Wayne hurriedly stopped Hannah from adding something to the pot. "What's that?"

"Porcupine quills." The pigtail witch's eyes held the pure innocence of someone whose mind had yet to be tainted by knowledge.

Wayne was covered in black lines. "Porcupine quills are the final step. You're supposed to add them when the potion is nearly finished. It's still far too early.

"And besides, didn't we agree to cut them into three-centimeter pieces? Do you have even three millimeters here?" On the brass tray, the dark brown porcupine quills had been chopped so finely they could be called powder. Wayne somewhat understood why Snape had such a terrible temper.

Facing students like this every day, it was hard to have a good mood.

"Huh?" Hannah's little mouth fell open, and she hurriedly looked at the blackboard. When she saw that it really did say three centimeters, she turned completely black and white.

"What do I do, Wayne? I only brought this one portion of ingredients."

Remembering what Snape had just said about having to eat any wasted ingredients, Hannah looked at Wayne with tears in her eyes.

"Save me, Wayne! I don't want to be poisoned to death!"

Wayne sighed. "Keep brewing the potion. Keep an eye on the professor for me, and tell me when he's gone farther away."

He no longer dared let Hannah handle anything. He took all the ingredients and processed them himself.

Snape continued spraying his venom, but there was not a single thing wrong with what he said.

When he finally walked to the other side of the classroom, Hannah hurriedly informed Wayne. Wayne looked up and observed the situation. Seeing that Snape had his back turned, he immediately drew his wand.

"Porcupine quills, come!"

Several porcupine quills suddenly flew out of the cupboard, skimmed over the little witches and wizards' heads, and landed in front of Wayne.

Everyone was seriously brewing their potions and paid no attention to what had happened.

Snape seemed to sense something and abruptly turned around, but he found nothing unusual. Only then did he turn back and continue berating Toby and Norman.

"Your abilities pose no threat to me in the academic field, but in the field of education, they can ruin my reputation. Hufflepuff, five points deducted!

"That was so cool!" Hannah was no longer panicking. Her eyes sparkled. "That was the Summoning Charm. You have to be in your fifth year to learn it."

"You could learn it too if you practiced more."

"I don't have time for that." Hannah shook her head, her pigtails swinging back and forth. "I still have to go to the kitchen and learn how to cook from the House-elves. They know so many things.

Hannah had said that her dream was to take over The Leaky Cauldron and change the menu, which had not been updated in over a hundred years.

So whenever she had free time, she went to the kitchen to learn from the House-elves, studying each one's signature dish. One could only say that Hufflepuff did not raise idlers.

Aside from studying properly, the little witches and wizards did everything imaginable.

By the end of class, aside from Wayne and Hannah's group, whose work satisfied Snape, only Lisa Turpin and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw had produced potions worthy of a passable evaluation.

Padma Patil was a high-caste Indian Brahmin girl. She also had a younger sister, Parvati, who was in Gryffindor.

It was extremely rare for twin sisters like them to be sorted into different Houses.

"Finally, it's over."

After leaving the Potions classroom, Wayne stretched comfortably.

The week's classes were over, and the next two days were vacation.

Oh, right. There were also the essays, which added up to dozens of inches in length, covering all kinds of subjects.

Thinking of that, Wayne frowned and headed toward the Great Hall.

Although writing those things did not require much brainpower, they took an enormous amount of time.

With that time, he might as well take a walk beside the Black Lake and familiarize himself with Hogwarts's layout. That would be far more meaningful than writing those simple assignments.

"Wayne, I was just about to come find you."

As Wayne entered the Great Hall, Cedric suddenly appeared and patted him on the shoulder.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not with me. The twins are looking for you." Cedric tightened his hold on the books in his arms. Wayne glanced at them and saw that they were textbooks for Care of Magical Creatures.

As they walked toward the long tables, Wayne asked, "What kind of trouble have those two come up with this time?"

"I don't know. They said they'd come find you in the common room after dinner. They didn't say anything else."

Wayne nodded. "All right, got it."

At seven o'clock, a student found Wayne playing Wizard's Chess with Cedric and told him that the twins were waiting outside.

"I'll go with you. What if they're planning another prank?" Cedric took the opportunity to push a piece across the board and spoke with great loyalty.

If Cedric had not been left with only two pawns and a queen on the board, Wayne might almost have believed him.

When they reached the outside of the common room, they saw two rather comical faces. Fred—or perhaps George—teased him with a grin. "Yo, Wayne. Why'd you bring a bodyguard?"

"He followed me. I didn't ask him to come." Wayne shrugged. "What do you want?"

Ever since the twins had been tricked by him twice, they had been so busy all week that their feet barely touched the ground. They had just finished copying the famous alumni essay and had already come rushing over to offer themselves up again.

Wayne was curious what scheme they were plotting this time.

"We've come to invite you," George said. "But since Cedric is here too, he can come along."

"How about we explore the school together tomorrow?"

"You make it sound like I'm the parchment that comes free with a quill. That's pretty cheap." Cedric looked at them disdainfully. "Besides, what's there to explore at school?"

Fred raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you curious about the corridor on the fourth floor?"

Nighttime Wandering

The Third Floor Corridor was a place Dumbledore had expressly forbidden little witches and wizards from visiting at the start of term.

But that was human nature. The more something was forbidden and the more sternly the rule was repeated, the more people wanted to try it.

Ever since the first day of term, the students had been filled with curiosity about the place, and quite a few had already put that curiosity into action.

The results had been disastrous.

The professors had anticipated this, so someone patrolled the area every day. Little witches and wizards caught there would have five points deducted at best, and be given detention at worst.

The casualty list had already reached several dozen, with Gryffindor accounting for ¥.

That was why, even after the first week of term, the Gryffindor score column was still empty. Fortunately, negative points did not exist, or they would have owed several dozen points by now.

Cedric stared at the twins in shock. "Have you two gone mad? Derek is still cleaning the washrooms every night, and he reeks when he gets back to the dormitory."

"Of course not. We're perfectly sane." George spread his hands. "Please don't doubt our professionalism when it comes to nighttime wandering."

"Nighttime wandering again?" Cedric's voice rose by an entire octave.

Fred said matter-of-factly, "There are too many people around during the day. We obviously have to act at night.

"We've already investigated. Filch will be guarding the corridor tomorrow night. He's easy to deal with. Lee will make a disturbance somewhere else, and Filch will definitely rush over like an excited leopard."

"Why call me?" Wayne asked curiously. "It seems like you don't actually need my help."

"Of course it's to guard against the unexpected." The twins spoke at the same time. "If something goes wrong, we'll need someone to take the fall.

"At that point, as long as we run faster than you, we'll be completely safe."

"Wayne, you're not scared, are you? You can refuse if you are." The two of them took one line each, their coordination flawless. This was the twins' clever trap.

They had no malicious intentions, but if Wayne got caught, it would only mean he was not capable enough. He could not blame anyone else.

Wayne naturally understood that, so he agreed without hesitation.

Having achieved their goal, the twins walked away arm in arm, grinning. Cedric turned to look at Wayne.

"You're really going?"

"Of course. I already agreed."

"If you get caught, you'll be in trouble. Maybe you'll be the next person cleaning the washrooms."

Wayne said indifferently, "Then don't get caught. Are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming."

"Then stop talking nonsense and go back for another game."

On his first weekend at Hogwarts, Wayne slept in, getting up only after nine.

There was no breakfast left in the Great Hall by then. In other Houses, students could only eat some snacks to fill their stomachs and wait until noon for a proper meal.

But what kind of person was Wayne? A Hufflepuff!

With the kitchen right there, how could he possibly go hungry?

Amid the House-elves' respectful bows, he walked out of the kitchen carrying two tuna sandwiches, left the castle, and came to the shore of the Black Lake, where he sat casually on the grass and ate breakfast.

The students on the lawn were scattered in groups of two or three. Some were taking walks, while others chatted. Cheers and shouts came from the Quidditch pitch in the distance. Wayne had no idea which House was training.

As he ate, Wayne also glanced at his system panel.

His other attributes had not changed much. The points column showed more than five hundred points, over four hundred of which he had earned this week.

He had genuinely been lazy this week. Some of the points had come from tricking the twins and making things difficult for Quirrell.

The rest had come from casting spells on his roommates every night while they slept, earning five points per use at first and only two points per use now.

The reward would probably continue to decrease. The speed was too slow.

But he was going nighttime wandering tonight. He wondered how many points he could earn from it.

After finishing his meal, Wayne went to the library again and borrowed a book titled Dark Arts Insight: How to Protect Yourself Safely.

He also saw Hermione there. The little witch was hidden behind a thick book.

Seeing how engrossed she was in reading, Wayne did not disturb her and left.

That afternoon, he toured the entire castle again, trying all the stairs in the main castle area. Gradually, he formed a three-dimensional map in his mind.

Many people forgot the patterns of the staircases for all kinds of reasons before graduating. Wayne keenly sensed that there might be a considerable business opportunity here.

Combining that with some of his earlier inspiration, he already had an idea. All he lacked now was the technical ability.

He still needed to farm more points for draws, preferably drawing some knowledge related to Alchemy.

"Wayne, aren't you going to do your homework?"

Seeing Wayne wandering back leisurely, looking like an idle old man, his two roommates both displayed expressions of utter confusion.

"What's the rush? Don't we still have all of tomorrow?"

"And I don't have to do the Transfiguration homework. Professor McGonagall excused me from it."

"It's great to have talent." Toby was extremely envious. The Transfiguration assignment was a full six inches long.

The two of them kept writing until nightfall, and only then finished half their homework. Seeing his roommates nearly collapse straight into sleep, Wayne drew his wand.

He was afraid that if he went out and the two woke up unable to find him, they would shout and expose him.

It was better to add another layer of insurance.

"Sleep—"

No, that was wrong. He had said it incorrectly.

"Peaceful Slumber Charm."

The light of the hypnotic spell fell upon the two of them. They showed no visible change, but as long as nothing disturbed them, they would have no problem sleeping until dawn.

When he reached the common room, Cedric was already waiting for him. "Let's go."

The model student was visibly excited. It was not that he had never gone wandering at night, but this was his first time with so many people.

Not to mention that they were heading to a forbidden area the headmaster had sternly warned them about. It was incredibly thrilling!

Wayne was much calmer, showing no more excitement than he did when going out normally. "Calm down. What if you attract Filch?"

"Where are we meeting?"

"The Trophy Room on the second floor. Fred and George should already be there."

"Let's go."

The two of them stepped through the barrel entrance and arrived on the first floor.

The moment he stepped onto the first floor, Wayne's system also issued a notification.

The host has violated school rules by wandering at night. Points +20. For every continued hour, points +5.

A faint smile curled at the corners of Wayne's mouth. There it is.

From now on, he could come out for a stroll every night and collect twenty points. How was that any different from being given points for free?

He had been a good student for an entire week. He had suffered a huge loss.

Seeing Wayne suddenly smile, Cedric was somewhat confused, but he still reminded him in a low voice: