My Present Strength Is All Thanks to My Own Hard Work

Ever since Hermione's birthday, their relationship had progressed by leaps and bounds. If Hermione had not been so young, and if Hogwarts had had a suitable place, Andy would have made his move long ago.

Fortunately, Andy had restrained himself.

That sort of thing carried a minimum sentence of three years, after all! Life at Hogwarts was leisurely, and Andy enjoyed it.

Going to class every day, reading, practising magic, or teasing the Little Witch. Before he knew it, time had already reached late October.

Ever since Quirrell had been driven away, nothing much had happened at Hogwarts.

Uh... aside from Malfoy being beaten up after someone threw a sack over him.

Fortunately, Malfoy's injuries were not serious. He only had a few bruises on his face.

Andy heard that Malfoy insisted Potter and Weasley had beaten him up, but unfortunately, he had no evidence, and Harry and Ron adamantly denied it.

So the matter could only be dropped in the end.

However, the grudge between the three of them had been thoroughly established.

More than once, Malfoy openly provoked Harry and Ron, loudly mocking Ron's family.

And whenever Ron and Harry were provoked into wanting to give Malfoy a good beating, Snape would silently appear at the scene.

Then came—five points from Gryffindor!

Harry and Ron wanted to put a sack over Malfoy again, but after being sacked once, Malfoy rarely went anywhere alone.

The new Dark Arts Defence Professor had arrived. He was a wizard in his forties named Tony Dunn.

It was said that Dumbledore had gone to great lengths to find him.

Don Professor was not particularly knowledgeable, but he was at least a competent professor, far better than Quirrell, who could only dryly read from the textbook.

From time to time, he even brought in some dark creatures for the Little Wizards to practise on.

Andy was fairly satisfied with this.

Sixth Floor of the castle, Abandoned Classroom.

Andy stopped casting and silently activated the system.

The system interface was the same as always. The only change was that the red liquid inside the sphere had been emptied, while the data beneath it displayed Potential Points: 5.

Hehehe! Andy grinned foolishly. After nearly sixty days of hard work, he had finally saved up enough attribute points again.

No need for words.

System, add points! The moment Charms: 4 became Charms: 5, Andy felt as though his entire being had been elevated.

It was an indescribable feeling.

To improve one's magical ability, one had to integrate Magical Theory into one's spellcasting.

Moreover, different magic had different Magical Theory, and everyone understood magic differently.

Not only that, understanding magical theory alone was not enough to improve one's magic. One also needed diligent practice to master the casting techniques that incorporated Magical Theory.

He had not felt much when his talent was low.

But when his talent in Charms reached 5 points, it was as though Andy's Ren and Du meridians had been opened. Different magical theories and casting techniques seemed to become perfectly integrated in an instant.

"Diffindo!"

Andy pointed his wand at a table in the classroom.

Under the spell's effect, the table instantly split into the shape Andy wanted.

The Splitting Curse could divide objects. Skilled wizards could even use it to carve objects—a form of incredibly precise magical control.

Andy could not yet meet that standard, but he could divide objects into the shapes he wanted.

"Reparo!"

Andy cast the spell again. The split pieces of wood instantly came together and returned to the shape of a table.

"So smooth!"

Andy even felt that this was not his limit.

Unfortunately, the classroom was too small for Andy to test his magic without restraint.

While the feeling from his increased talent still lingered, Andy began practising magic again.

Casting techniques that had once been extremely difficult, or even impossible for him to master, now came effortlessly and could be cast at will.

As Andy cast spell after spell, the red liquid within the system sphere also began to slowly rise.

Every increase in talent slightly improved Andy's spellcasting ability.

This was talent being realised.

Once this opportunity had passed, future improvements would have to come through hard practice.

"I feel like you've become much stronger." Hermione stopped practising and looked at Andy in surprise.

Only someone who had truly practised magic could understand what it felt like to grow stronger through magic.

Most wizards in the Wizarding World, when faced with danger, instinctively turned and ran rather than drawing their wands.

Because magic schools only taught people how to cast spells, not how to fight.

Even practising magic depended on the Little Wizards' own initiative.

Andy's parents—Kyle and Helen—were typical adult wizards.

They could use magic, but they were definitely not strong.

Hermione had practised magic with Andy for more than a month, so she knew very well what improved spellcasting felt like.

Magical progress was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

It was a subtle change during spellcasting.

"Probably the result of hard practice!"

Andy said as he practised, "I can now combine several casting techniques together, like this..."

"Diffindo!"

Andy waved his wand and pointed it at a wooden board.

Under the spell's effect, a five-pointed star was split from the centre of the board. Inside it was another five-pointed star, then another layer after layer. Andy split out ten five-pointed stars in total.

This kind of casting looked simple, but it required extremely sophisticated spellcasting techniques.

At the very least, Hermione was nowhere close to being able to do this.

Hermione's Splitting Curse could only divide objects into several pieces, making them look as if they had exploded.

"Reparo!"

After restoring the wooden board, Andy cast another spell.

"Incendio!"

The flames condensed into a Fire Hawk with a wingspan of three or four metres. It circled above the classroom, and the temperature inside instantly rose. The scorching heat even caused some scraps of paper to ignite on their own.

Seeing that Hermione was uncomfortable, Andy hurriedly stopped casting.

"Phew—"

Too strong! At that moment, Andy felt as though he could even fight Dumbledore to the finish atop Hogwarts.

Of course, it was only an illusion.

Andy had watched duelling competitions and knew how great the gap was between himself and those Magic Masters.

Andy's talent might be strong now, but some things needed time to accumulate, while others could not even be measured by common sense.

Magic had never been something that could be reasoned with.

"That's amazing!"

Hermione watched enviously. She reckoned she would need quite a bit more practice before she could shape flames like Andy did.

"Andy!"

Hermione suddenly looked at Andy and asked with a hint of confusion on her face, "You practise magic so hard. Is there some dream you want to achieve?"