A Day at Hogwarts

As Jon left the Transfiguration classroom, he recalled Professor McGonagall's words, failing to notice that the three boys behind him had all wilted.

It was not until the four of them sat down in the Charms classroom that Jon noticed something strange about his three roommates.

"What's wrong with you? You haven't said a word the whole way."

"Nothing." Stephen looked up, and Jon saw a strange light gleaming in his eyes. "We heard everything when you were talking to Professor McGonagall. Don't worry, Jon."

What am I supposed to be reassured about? Seeing you like this makes me even less reassured, doesn't it?

Fren and Scaly looked up as well and said in tones that sounded almost like an oath, "That's right. Professor McGonagall was right. Hufflepuff is a powerful House, and we should restore its glory. Jon, we'll work hard!"

Jon: "..."

He was still completely baffled. Had he somehow lost his memory just now? Had Professor McGonagall said something to encourage them?

With no interest in deliberately probing the strange inner worlds of little boys, Jon thought that giving them motivation to study magic this way might not be such a bad thing. After all, the next few years would be a turbulent time for the wizarding world.

But would the future really unfold according to the book's description?

Jon could not say for sure.

The Charms professor, Professor Phileas Flitwick, was a small man who had to stand on a stack of books to reach the lectern, but no one looked down on the professor with the high, thin voice.

Compared to Transfiguration and Potions, Charms was always the students' favorite subject.

Having just been lectured by Professor McGonagall about focusing, Jon displayed outstanding learning ability as well, and earned—well, he had already mastered these basic spells long ago.

Hogwarts' teaching methods were indeed vastly different from Jon's self-study. They taught students to use their own emotions to guide the magic inside their bodies and cast the corresponding magic. This method truly allowed students to quickly grasp magic in the early stages, but in later studies, they would likely have to put in far more effort to learn how to control their emotions.

Not allowing fear, excitement, and other emotions to affect the casting of magic was a required lesson for becoming a qualified wizard.

Jon had now skipped the initial guidance stage, lacking any substantial understanding of the essence of casting magic. Though he had made up for this through diligence, directly trying to progress to more advanced magic still caused him many problems.

Lunch consisted of Mashed Potatoes and Bread Slices, Vegetable Salad, ham and Chicken Drumstick, as well as Pumpkin Juice.

Jon was very dissatisfied with Hogwarts' lunch, especially since the drinks were always so monotonous. Pumpkin porridge was still within the range of what he could accept, but he truly disliked Pumpkin Juice.

However, Britain did not produce much watermelon, and Hogwarts could not possibly supply Watermelon Juice on a large scale.

After replacing his drink with a cup of Plain Water, Jon decided to write home and ask for some Tea Leaves. At the very least, Hogwarts did provide hot water.

Now he finally understood why Bella liked McDonald's so much.

After the morning's lessons, he was looking forward to that night's Dream Lecture even more. Helga had promised to talk with him every night, though not for too long, which would also ensure less magical depletion—he wondered whether she had gotten any results from studying the book he had given her yesterday.

Compared to the morning, the afternoon classes were much more tedious.

Professor Sprout was a remarkably gentle witch—perhaps gentleness was a Hufflepuff tradition. She wore a smiling expression when dealing with students from every House and was never stingy about awarding points to her own students.

Memorization was Jon's strong suit, so Herbology Classification could not stump him. He deliberately finished the task after several Ravenclaw students, allowing him to earn points without standing out too much.

As for Potions, it was not merely tedious.

Without the advantage of the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book, Jon could only honestly be an ordinary student, especially since he had never been particularly accomplished in Potions.

Deliberately avoiding Snape's gaze, Jon did not look down on the course just because it was boring. He still wanted to brew the Bloodline Purification Potion. Come to think of it, the Bloodline Purification Potion was a potion created by Salazar Slytherin. When he had time, perhaps he could ask Helga about it.

Jon's efforts did not show on the surface. He was paired with Stephen to brew a potion, and Stephen appeared much more diligent than he did. Jon intentionally controlled his group's pace so they would not draw too much of Snape's attention.

He wished Snape would devote all his attention to the Slytherin students, so he would only need to listen carefully in class.

Snape did not disappoint Jon's expectations. Sure enough, he barely paid any attention to the Hufflepuff students.

The praise and criticism all went to Slytherin. Hufflepuff's obscurity spared them the possibility of being harshly reprimanded by Snape.

It seemed that since Harry Potter had not yet enrolled, Snape had not become so deranged.

Things might not be so easy next year.

After enduring class until it ended, Jon did not choose to return to the Common Room with Stephen and the other two. Instead, he asked Stephen to take the Cauldron back, using the excuse of taking a walk around the castle before slipping off to the library on the fifth floor when no one was around.

The library was a good place to think, and most importantly, there was hardly anyone there now that school had just begun. Once it became crowded later, he might have to find another base.

Jon casually pulled a book from the shelf. He had no interest in the Restricted Section's collection. There were far more destructive spells than just the Unforgivable Curses, and besides, he remembered the Unforgivable Curses that had appeared repeatedly in the Original Work.

No matter when, mastering a foreign language was indeed very helpful.

The book Jon had taken from the shelf was Magical Life Guide. It contained many old wizarding customs, and they were fairly interesting, so Jon could keep reading.

The state of wizarding life reflected the magical environment of the time to a certain extent. For example, before the Common Era, wizards' abilities had still been quite exceptional, allowing them to communicate with heaven and earth and create miracles like Stonehenge. By the Middle Ages, however, wizards' abilities had greatly weakened, and they could not even withstand epidemics like the Black Death.

Yet the Church's use of the Black Death to spread rumors about wizards was itself incorrect, because the Black Death originated from the hygiene problems of Europeans at the time, not from a curse. Besides, wizards back then were nothing like they were now, divided into such ridiculous camps as dark wizards and White Wizards.

Jon did not think kindness was wrong, but kindness without the strength to fight back was a serious problem.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you do not lose it next time.