Conflict

Before he knew it, Tierra had spent two full months at Hogwarts, and time had swiftly advanced to the eve of Halloween.

Aside from his weekly coursework and self-study, Tierra now had to set aside part of his time to prepare potions for Gryffindor's Quidditch team—though, of course, the Galleons spent on potion ingredients were covered by the House.

Many graduated upperclassmen, including Professor McGonagall, were willing to bear the expense.

Especially since Professor McGonagall already knew the level of Tierra's potion-brewing skills.

Because the potions prepared by each potioneer differed significantly in effectiveness, the players had to drink one or two bottles even during training. This both improved the quality of their training and helped them adapt to the slight discomfort that came after the potions wore off.

After using the Potion Identification Charm recorded in Potions Explained to confirm that the new Calming Draught he had prepared was problem-free, all Hogwarts trainees switched to this dark crimson potion with its stronger effects.

On top of that, Tierra had to study potion-making with Snape for an hour every Sunday evening, deal with the massive number of thought questions Snape assigned after class, and occasionally handle the Weasley Twins whenever they came up with some new idea.

This suddenly made Tierra's school life much fuller, and he could also feel his skills in potions, Transfiguration, and alchemy advancing by leaps and bounds.

Unlike Harry, who was struggling to juggle Quidditch and schoolwork, Tierra felt thoroughly energized.

It was not merely because he was learning new knowledge. More importantly, it was because of the Huris Potion.

The Huris Potion could strengthen Tierra's soul—that was, his spiritual existence. After taking it for the past few months, Tierra could clearly feel himself becoming more alert, reacting faster, and remembering more.

Yet Tierra still kept to a schedule of going to bed at nine-thirty at night, getting up at six in the morning, and sleeping for an hour at noon.

Even when he could not sleep at all and felt full of energy, Tierra would lie in bed with his eyes closed, trying to relax his body completely, or simply eat the egg whites of Fog Serpent Eggs raw—a small magical creature that lived in seaside caves and had been bred in large numbers by wizards. They fed on small shrimp and fish, were harmless and social, and their brains were the main ingredient in a sleep-inducing mist, which was how they got their name.

Their eggs were rich in protein and also contained mild sleep-inducing components. They were used to subdue young wizards whose magic had gone out of control. Eating them raw could quickly put them to sleep without any side effects; on the contrary, they strengthened the body.

For only seven silver Sickles, Tierra could buy sixteen of them from a grocery shop in Diagon Alley. They were very cheap.

Besides that, Tierra had Hogwarts' House-elves add an extra glass of milk and a slice of rye bread to his breakfast every day, a small extra serving of tuna salad to lunch, and a bowl of fruit to dinner.

This was to protect his material existence—his underage body—so he had to ensure he got enough sleep and nutrition.

Because Tierra's mental strength far exceeded the upper limit for someone his age, it had also placed a certain burden on his physical body.

At the same time, Tierra, who had always believed in balancing work and rest, decided to relax on Halloween.

Thanks to China's excellent traditional culture and the West's rich festive culture, Tierra could find a reason to give himself a holiday every month.

For example, on the twenty-second of last month—September 22nd, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month—it happened to be a Sunday. Tierra had not gone to the library at all that day. Instead, he stayed in the dormitory chatting and joking with Harry and Ron, and at dinner he asked for four chocolate cakes sweet enough to rot one's teeth.

That was the first time Tierra had used Transfiguration outside class. He turned those four tooth-achingly sweet chocolate cakes into four crooked mooncakes stamped with the words "Mid-Autumn Reunion," then shared them with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

On October 1st at the beginning of this month, Tierra likewise did not go to the library. To celebrate the birthday of his motherland... which should have been her forty-second this year, Tierra used Transfiguration to create a tiny Five-Starred Red Flag on the flesh-colored glove on his left hand.

In this way, Tierra remembered the homeland he could never return to and the parents he would never see again.

Since today was Halloween, Tierra decided to give himself another chance to indulge.

After getting up early that morning, he unusually did not take a book to the Great Hall to read. Instead, he continued lying idly in bed, staring at the ceiling.

There's a Halloween feast tonight, Tierra thought. He'd been far too busy these past two weeks. He really needed a proper rest.

The five Incendiary Grenades he had made over the past two weeks by combining Transfiguration and rudimentary alchemy had already been placed in the pockets of his Wizard Robe the previous night.

After all... there was still a hard battle to fight later.

If nothing unexpected happened, Professor Quirrell would release the troll guarding the Philosopher's Stone during tonight's Halloween feast.

And over the past two weeks, ever since Harry had received the Nimbus 2000, the conflict between him, Ron, and Hermione had become increasingly irreconcilable.

Now Hermione barely spoke to Harry and Ron at all, apart from the occasional "Excuse me" or "Please move aside" when they ran into each other in the classroom or Common Room.

She ignored Tierra as well. Whenever they met in the library, Hermione either buried herself in the book before her, which she could not fully understand, or stared straight ahead and pretended not to see Tierra. Even when Tierra politely greeted her, she would suddenly run off as though she had something urgent to do.

Other than making Harry a little sad, this situation suited Tierra and Ron just fine. They could not wait to be rid of Hermione.

Although Tierra was an adult, he did not particularly like witches like Hermione, who always acted as though they were little grown-ups.

Ron went without saying. He would have been delighted never to see her again for the rest of his life.

But things did not go as they wished.

Harry and Ron were late for Charms today. They were excited about spending their first Halloween here, so they had kept talking long after Tierra had fallen asleep.

Thus, when Harry and Ron arrived in the Charms classroom, aside from the seat Tierra had saved for Harry, Ron could only share a desk with Hermione.

Both Ron and Hermione looked thoroughly annoyed.

Harry felt incredibly fortunate. It was a good thing he had a friend like Tierra, who not only helped him with his schoolwork but also saved him a seat.

Especially when Professor Flitwick told the young wizards present that they would be learning the Levitation Charm today, Harry immediately perked up.

Ever since Tierra had used the spell in their first flying lesson several weeks ago, Harry had kept pestering him to teach it to him.

And five days ago, Harry had already managed to make a roll of parchment float briefly in midair.