Potions Class (Part 1)

Over the next few days, Vaughn's life at Hogwarts settled into a routine.

He attended classes every day, answered the professors' questions, received their feedback, and satisfied his thirst for knowledge.

On the first day of term, in Charms Class, his masterful Levitation Charm earned high praise from Professor Flitwick. The Charms expert, who was suspected of having Goblin bloodline, also examined Vaughn's notes.

But he did not invite Vaughn to join his Charms Club.

"Your magic power is still growing, Mr. Vaughn Weasley. Young Wizards your age need to focus more on thoroughly practicing basic spells. It would not be suitable for you to delve too deeply into advanced research yet."

Professor Flitwick had told Vaughn in his shrill voice, "But I promise that when you reach Third Year, I'll invite you to join. That is, if you have the time. After all, the Transfiguration Club will likely take up a large portion of your energy."

To show his appreciation for Vaughn's spellwork, he awarded Slytherin twenty points in one go that day.

That made Vaughn very happy.

He did not want to miss any chance to earn points, because the system had activated a new quest after Main Quest 1!

[Main Quest 2: By the end of this school year, help Slytherin win the House Cup]

[Reward: 1 Talent Point, 50 units of Magic Power]

It looked as though it would not be difficult, but anyone familiar with the Future knew this was practically hell difficulty...

The greatest White Wizard of the age was preparing to raise his Savior, and for that, he could even shamelessly hand out points at random.

Though, looking at the coming years, it only happened this once. Unfortunately, it happened to conflict with the system quest.

Vaughn had not thought of a good solution for the time being, but he did not want to give up so easily either. He would just work hard for now.

Two days passed. He experienced the boring History of Magic class—Professor Binns's hypnotic prowess amazed Vaughn. He only held out until halfway through before falling asleep, and even so, Professor Binns awarded him five points in praise.

Though the professor had gotten his name wrong.

He also experienced the utterly ordinary Astronomy Class. Apparently, Astronomy Class was compulsory because it formed the foundation of Divination.

Out of respect for his Divination talent score of "2," Vaughn shamelessly copied the astronomy knowledge he had learned in his previous life. Professor Sinistra was utterly astonished, though she found it strange that Vaughn kept agonizing over whether the Solar System had Eight Planets or Nine Planets.

Then there was Professor Sprout's Herbology class, which was quite interesting.

Of course, during the first lesson, she did not have the First Year students perform any hands-on work. She merely took them around Hogwarts's greenhouses and briefly introduced the various magical plants grown there.

But compared to the plants, the students were actually more curious about the greenhouses themselves—they had been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. Different areas had been divided into forests, wetlands, plateaus, deserts, and more according to the various plants' living environments.

It felt as if they had entered a dreamlike world.

In that class, Vaughn and Hermione each earned twenty points through rote-memorized textbook knowledge, while Gryffindor's Neville showed an unexpected passion for Herbology.

He even earned ten points... Fortunately, that same evening, Gryffindor lost twenty points because Fred and George pulled a prank in the corridor.

Thank goodness!

Even more deserving of thanks was the following Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Professor Quirrell, with a huge turban wrapped around his head, was disliked by everyone because of the foul garlic stench he gave off. His teaching ability was also questionable; he only knew how to read from the textbook.

When Gryffindor's Seamus Finnigan pressed him for details on defeating Reappearing Incantations, he even began babbling nonsense.

Vaughn got him out of the situation, and Professor Quirrell was extremely grateful, awarding Slytherin ten points.

Then, a little while later, as if he had forgotten he had already done so, he awarded Slytherin another ten points.

(Note: The course arrangements in this book combine those from the movies and the original novels.)

Ron bet Harry, "...He must have had his brains sucked dry by a Vampire!"

But Vaughn knew why.

Those latter ten points had most likely been ordered by Socket Man through Professor Quirrell. Come to think of it, Voldemort truly loved Hogwarts and Slytherin deeply.

At the height of his power, his greatest wish had been to become a professor at Hogwarts. When his application was rejected, he simply placed a Curse on Defense Against the Dark Arts.

If I can't have it, no one else can either!

That was true love!

Time circled onward until Friday. Today was the final class of the first week of term: Potions Class!

Early that morning, Harry and Ron were already sighing gloomily.

"I think Professor Snape doesn't like me. I mean, the way he looked at me during the opening Banquet... it was terrifying!"

"Don't be stupid, Harry. I think he looks at everyone as if they owe him five hundred Gold Galleons. I also heard he's especially biased toward Slytherin. Heh heh, Vaughn must be delighted!"

Ron could not help glancing toward the Ravenclaw table, his expression sour.

That was right. Vaughn was sitting with Ravenclaw today.

Before the first week of term was even over, the First Year students had discovered the biggest oddity among them: Vaughn Weasley!

When he sat at the Gryffindor table on the first day, everyone thought he had gone there because his surname was Weasley.

But by the second day, they realized they had been far too naive.

He had actually gone to Hufflepuff as well, and he got along quite well with those simple-minded badgers. Rumor had it that he had even visited the Hufflepuff common room that night.

That "rumor" had come from Ron. Vaughn had told him that the Hogwarts kitchens were right beside the Hufflepuff common room.

And just like that, before even a week had passed, Vaughn Weasley, that terrifying boy, had graced every House with his presence!

Now, every morning when students came to the Great Hall for breakfast, they would first look over at their own House table to see where that Red-haired boy was sitting that day.

This strange new habit quickly spread to every year and became something of a spectacle.

The most incomprehensible thing was...

No matter which House Vaughn went to, there was always at least one person who could chat with him enthusiastically.

Slytherin had Malfoy—though Mr. Malfoy did not actually want to—Hufflepuff had Cedric, and Gryffindor had even more.

Listening to the silver-bell laughter of the female Prefect Penelope from the Ravenclaw table, Ron curled his lip.

"Hmph, he's loved playing with little girls since he was young. He hasn't changed one bit even now."

As he spoke, Hermione suddenly lost her temper and snapped her book shut. "Then why don't you, as his younger brother, try to talk him out of it? All you do is spout nonsense here!"

Ron was baffled. "Are you crazy? What does that have to do with me?"

But Hermione seemed as if she had swallowed gunpowder. Abruptly changing the subject, her thin lips rattled off words like firecrackers. "What else can you two do besides gossip behind people's backs and complain? If you're worried Professor Snape is biased, why don't you prepare more? Classes have already been going for a week..."

After that thoroughly satisfying verbal barrage, the girl hugged her books and left.

Dazed from being sprayed with accusations, Ron said irritably, "She really is crazy. Vaughn going around flirting with other girls wasn't my idea, so why is she yelling at me? Just watch, she'll definitely be chatting and laughing with Vaughn again in class later. Stupid Young Girl!"

And sure enough, he was right. During Potions Class, Vaughn sat with Hermione again, and after just a few words, he had coaxed her back into beaming smiles.

But Ron and Harry, despite having guessed correctly, could not feel happy at all.

Because their other guess had also come true—

"Ah, Harry—Potter!"

In the gloomy Basement, Professor Snape stood with half his body hidden in shadow, his pitch-black eyes fixed on Harry as he spoke in a dark, icy voice.