Snape's Gossip and Charms: 4

As the end of August approached, Hogwarts' opening day drew nearer and nearer. Andy had never thought there would come a day when he actually looked forward to school.

"I was clearly a terrible student."

In his bedroom, Andy closed Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and placed it together with his other textbooks.

The past month or so had been the most fulfilling period of Andy's life since his reincarnation.

He had spent time with his family and exchanged Hogwarts intelligence with Ron, George, and Fred. And, most importantly, Andy now had a wand and could practice magic to his heart's content.

Speaking of Hogwarts intelligence, Andy suddenly felt a headache coming on.

The clock turned back to a month ago.

Hogwarts had gone on break, and Andy wrote Ron a letter inviting him and the Weasley Twins out to play Quidditch.

And while he was at it—just while he was at it—Andy wanted to ask the Twins about the professors' preferences at Hogwarts.

After all, no matter what world you were in, it was always necessary to stay on good terms with your teachers.

Things went smoothly, and he got the information he wanted.

The other professors were fine, but the current Head of Slytherin and Potions Class Professor, Severus Snape, was practically Hogwarts' number one villain in the Twins' mouths.

The kind of person who wouldn't satisfy your hatred even if you hit him with a Killing Curse.

Andy had some impression of Snape. In the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Snape seemed to have it out for Harry Potter.

But when Quirrell cursed Harry Potter's Flying Broom, Snape seemed to have cast a counter-curse.

In short, Snape seemed like the sort of professor with a terrible personality who favored his own house. He deliberately made trouble for Gryffindors, but he would not stand by and watch students come to harm.

With one part doubt, one part curiosity, and eight parts desire for gossip, Andy asked his mother, Helen, about Snape's past.

Helen had been a Gryffindor during her school days.

They said your enemies knew you best. Gryffindor and Slytherin were sworn rivals. Andy figured Helen ought to know something about Snape.

And so, Andy heard about Hogwarts F4 bullying Snape—wrong—and then he heard the story of Snape taking on the Four Champions of Gryffindor alone.

In Helen's account, Snape had a dark personality and a vicious expression, was obsessed with the Dark Arts, displayed powerful magical talent the moment he entered school, and had even joined a teenage Death Eater training class.

Not only that, Snape had tried to recruit a Gryffindor girl, intending to divide Gryffindor's unity and persuade her to join the Death Eaters with him.

Fortunately, the Four Champions of Gryffindor had joined forces to oppose Snape, preventing his schemes from succeeding.

"Then why was Snape allowed to become a professor?" Andy had asked at the time.

"Dumbledore vouched for him. If you ask me, Slytherins are just like that. Whichever side has the advantage, whichever side is stronger, that's the side they'll support. Maybe Snape was betting on both sides," Helen had said.

That should have been the end of it.

But in order to learn more of Hogwarts' secrets, Andy told the Weasley Twins about it and traded the information for news of a Secret Passage.

Yet the Twins' recklessness was far beyond Andy's imagination.

The moment Andy heard their plan, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, the Twins promised that even if things went wrong, they would not betray Andy. Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Whew—"

Taking a deep breath, Andy stretched and leaned back in his chair.

Over this period, Andy had finished reading Basic Spells - Beginner, Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Defense, and Magical Theory.

Not only that, whenever he had time, Andy practiced magic. Whenever he encountered something he did not understand, he asked Kyle and Helen for guidance. In just one month, Andy felt like he could skip straight to Second Year.

More than once, Kyle had sighed that if he had worked as hard as Andy back then, he would either be the Dark Lord now, taking over as Hogwarts headmaster from Dumbledore, or at the very least, serving as Minister of Magic.

Unfortunately, his younger days were long gone.

Hard training was indeed effective. Saying that Andy's strength had skyrocketed would have been nonsense, but bullying Isabel was still effortless.

Before, bullying the little girl required getting physical. Now, all Andy needed to do was lightly wave his wand and recite a spell, and he could be happy all day.

Of course, none of that was the most important thing.

"System!"

Opening the system interface, Andy's mouth stretched all the way to his ears at the sight of the number Potential Points: 4.

The data had updated last night. There was no longer any red liquid in the sphere, not even a single drop.

"System, add points!"

When Charms: 3 became Charms: 4, Andy felt as if his entire being had been elevated.

It was not an illusion.

Andy truly felt subtle changes in his body.

It was as though casting spells had become easier and learning spells had become more effortless. Some spell theory he had been unable to understand before now suddenly clicked, as if enlightenment had been poured into his head.

This feeling... was like being a genius.

Actually, Andy had felt this before. His talent for Transfiguration was clearly stronger than his talent for Charms.

Both Kyle and Helen had called Andy a magical genius, but that was only because of Andy's self-discipline and hard work, as well as an adult's capacity for comprehension.

Without those, Andy was merely average.

By now, Andy had gained a rough understanding of the system's values.

One was a troll, two was mediocre, three was ordinary, four was outstanding, five was genius, six was a super genius, seven was...

All right! Andy had not thought that far ahead yet.

For now, Andy's talents in both Charms and Transfiguration had reached the "outstanding" level. Combined with his head start, as well as the self-discipline and comprehension unique to an adult, he should have no problem crushing the First Years at Hogwarts.

"So next... I'll attend classes as usual, then learn more magic."

These past days, Andy had been watching the changes in the sphere on the system interface.

After learning a spell for the first time and practicing it diligently, the red liquid inside the sphere increased very quickly.

But once Andy had mastered that magic proficiently, the red liquid's growth slowed and gradually stopped.

Simply put, the increase in red liquid had nothing to do with hard practice. It was tied to Andy's progress.

If there was no progress in magic, no amount of practice would have any effect.

"Learn more magic, then add points to improve my talent. Improved talent will make my magic stronger, which will then continue improving my talent."

That was a virtuous cycle.

"I really am suited to Snake Uncle's approach."

"If Snake Uncle had possessed this system back then, what place would Sasuke and Naruto have had in the ninja world?"

It was time to dance with Voldemort.