Aside from the dull and tedious History of Magic class, Hogwarts offered many exciting courses.
For example, Professor Flitwick's Charms class.
"The most important thing for a wizard is levitation." Professor Flitwick had some goblin blood and was not very tall, but his magical accomplishments ran deep. He had won dueling championships several times in his youth. "There is a feather in front of each of you. Take out your Magic Wands and follow my movements."
The little witches and wizards in the classroom all waved their Magic Wands at the feathers before them, following Professor Flitwick's movements.
"Good, very good. Now repeat after me: Wingardium Leviosa."
"Wingardium Leviosa." Then nothing happened.
"Ron, it's Wingardium Leviosa, not Wingardium Leviosar." Hermione corrected Ron's pronunciation from where she sat to his right.
"And you, stop sleeping. The professor is teaching Charms." A vein bulged on Hermione's broad forehead as she looked at Horatio on her right.
Parvati Patil, seated behind Hermione, said, "Hermione, you won't wake him up like that. Let me teach you."
Parvati then picked up her magic wand and poked Horatio in the back. "Horatio, class is over. Time to eat."
Horatio instantly sprang to his feet. "Time to eat? Come on, Harry, I'll treat you to authentic hot pot."
Then he noticed everyone present staring at him with their hands over their mouths, trying not to laugh.
Horatio shot Parvati a resentful look over his shoulder, then smacked his forehead. "I must not be awake yet. This is a nightmare."
Then he buried his head in the desk and pretended to be an ostrich.
"It seems Mr. Horatio finds my class boring." Professor Flitwick hopped down from the podium and came to Horatio's desk. "Then could Mr. Horatio demonstrate the Levitation Charm for us?"
Horatio looked at Flitwick strangely. "Are you sure you want me to demonstrate? Aren't you afraid of crushing these little witches and wizards' confidence?"
Professor Flitwick smiled. "It seems Mr. Horatio is very confident in his abilities. Come now, class, all eyes over here. Horatio is going to teach everyone the Levitation Charm."
"Ahem. Watch carefully and learn." Horatio cleared his throat and clapped his hands.
The feather in front of him slowly floated into the air.
"???"
Question marks filled the little witches and wizards' minds. What were they supposed to learn from that?
"Beautiful wordless, wandless casting. Five points to Gryffindor."
Horatio looked at Professor Flitwick in confusion. Was this some kind of joke?
"But because Mr. Horatio slept during class, five points from Gryffindor."
Horatio let out a breath of relief. He had nearly let Professor McGonagall get something for nothing. She wanted him to earn points without giving him anything in return?
Horatio looked smugly at Hermione. Hermione gritted her teeth, picked up her magic wand, and waved it at her feather. "Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather before Hermione slowly floated up as well. When Professor Fred saw it, he said, "A textbook Levitation Charm. Miss Hermione, you have earned one point for Gryffindor."
"Hmph!!" Hermione rolled her eyes at Horatio.
"Tch!" Horatio began to whistle. With his whistle, his feather started darting around the classroom like a swallow, weaving between the students.
Seeing Horatio's performance, Professor Flitwick could not help clapping excitedly for him.
Seeing that every little witch present except Hermione was looking at Horatio with worshipful eyes, Ron said resentfully, "He really loves showing off."
Horatio heard him but said nothing. He simply took out a little notebook and made a note of it.
If there was one Hogwarts professor who liked Horatio the most, it was Professor Sprout.
Perhaps it was something engraved in the soul of a Chinese person, but Horatio's talent for farming was completely maxed out. Combined with his innate Herbology talent of eleven points, all kinds of plants obeyed his commands as meekly as though they were before their king.
Not only did Horatio drag Neville to the Hogwarts greenhouses every afternoon to help out, he also used Alchemy to make Professor Sprout a greenhouse system with temperature control, sunlight adjustment, and automatic watering and fertilizing.
Professor Sprout excitedly said she wanted to give Gryffindor fifty points, but Horatio said there was no need—some seeds would do.
In the end, Professor Sprout gained happiness, Horatio gained seeds of all kinds of plants, and only Professor McGonagall was hurt.
Afterward, Horatio went to Old Deng to collect on his promise of a plot of land. In the end, he chose a fertile patch near Hagrid's hut.
Dumbledore had originally thought Horatio was about to stir up some major trouble again, so he secretly observed him for several days. When he found that Horatio really was farming and had even set up a greenhouse, he patted Horatio on the shoulder with relief and said he was willing to provide any help, so long as Horatio honestly farmed.
After thinking it over, Horatio asked for Neville to be his house-elf and help him farm.
Thus, Dumbledore gained peace of mind, Horatio gained a vegetable patch, Neville gained an opportunity to practice Herbology, and nobody was hurt.
"Neville, what are you doing? You're slower than a snail. Even the old matrons at an orphanage are more nimble than you. Hurry up and plant that Biting Cabbage." Inside his greenhouse, Horatio covered the Houttuynia cordata seeds he had planted with plastic wrap while shouting at Neville.
"But this Biting Cabbage keeps biting me." Neville pitifully showed the wounds on his arm.
"What can you even do? Forget it, let me handle it." Horatio snatched the Biting Cabbage from Neville's hands.
"See? Why doesn't it bite me? Setting the facts aside, if it bites you, don't you bear even a tiny bit of responsibility?" In Horatio's hands, the Biting Cabbage was as obedient as a puppy, begging for his touch.
"Isn't it just a cabbage? Do you have to be like this? Forget it, go add some mooncalf dung to that Venomous Tentacula over there." Horatio planted the Biting Cabbage in a flowerpot. "Hathor, keep an eye on him. Report to me if he dares slack off."
Feeling the faint but ever-present gaze of the cat behind him, Neville felt for the first time that some cats were more terrifying than Mrs. Norris.
After planting the Biting Cabbage, Horatio scattered a ring of dragon dung compost around it, stroked its cabbage head, and said, "Make do with this for now. Once I finish mixing Jin Ke La, I'll improve your diet."
"Meow!!!" Just as Horatio was considering how to formulate Jin Ke La, Hathor's cry interrupted him.
"What is it, Hathor? Is Neville slacking off? Damn it, if he were a different color, I swear I'd whip him hard."
Horatio turned around and saw Neville lying on the ground with a purple face. Rubbing his forehead, he shook his head and sighed. "Neville forgot to bring his dragon-hide gloves again. Does he think he's me?"
After lifting Neville with the Levitation Charm, he tied a rope around Neville's foot and pulled him to the school infirmary like a balloon, where he found Madam Pomfrey.
"Poor child, was he poisoned? How did this happen?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she looked at Neville's bluish-purple face.
"It's nothing. He was just bitten by a Venomous Tentacula."
"All right, leave him to me. We have plenty of experience treating Venomous Tentacula bites."
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