Muggle Oil Painting, A Startling Matter

"What is this?"

Roger also saw Scott's painting, but he was currently very confused.

The painting Scott gave to Professor Flitwick was highly abstract. It depicted nothing concrete, featuring only various colors splashed across the canvas in large areas, where the different hues seemed to both blend and clash with one another.

Seeing the look of existential doubt on Roger's face, Scott asked him on purpose, "What do you think of my painting, Roger?"

Roger clearly couldn't see anything worth praising in the work, but since Professor Flitwick had expressed such delight, he had to bite the bullet and compliment it, "Um... it's a very beautiful painting, Scott."

Hearing Roger's dry praise, Scott chuckled several times in amusement.

"Oh, Roger, your understanding of magic has not yet reached this level, which is why you don't understand what an astonishing thing Scott has achieved." Professor Flitwick remained very excited, "Yes, it is truly astonishing."

At this moment, students began to walk into the classroom one after another, all of them chatting and laughing about Ron Weasley receiving a Howler, before walking over to curiously gather around them.

This class was shared by Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, so Scott also saw Roger's former Hufflepuff girlfriend, Miss Mill.

But Scott knew that Roger didn't care about that at all; he was currently bewildered by Professor Flitwick's words.

This painting clearly contained no magic, yet Professor Flitwick was praising Scott for achieving something astonishing in magic; such a situation was beyond Roger's scope of understanding.

The other students were clearly also wondering why they were here admiring a worthless Muggle oil painting.

At this time, Milton also arrived, and he leaned in with great interest to ask, "Scott, is this your new work?"

Milton, this artistic boy, didn't just like music; in fact, he had a keen eye for the appreciation of all art and beauty.

So, even though his personality was often hard to handle, Scott, who had studied painting since childhood in this life, would often exchange ideas with him.

He felt this was very useful, because all art shared commonalities.

At this moment, Milton identified the creator of the painting, causing the surrounding students to immediately fix their gazes on Scott—most were suspicious, with a few looks of disdain mixed in.

But what they didn't expect was that the moment Milton saw the painting, he let out an exaggerated exclamation, "This is truly beautiful! You used some beautiful color combinations; they are fluid, as if they possess true life!"

He stared intently at the painting, "Oh... calm, wise, passionate, brave... if you are depicting a person, then it must be someone with wonderful virtues."

Milton was somewhat intoxicated, and also somewhat confused, "I feel this painting gives me a familiar feeling, but... I cannot clearly see what you are depicting... but I must congratulate you, Scott, I think your artistic standard has improved a lot!"

Scott smiled; as expected, Milton's perception of art was very sharp.

"..."

However, the other students in the classroom had joined Roger in a state of existential doubt.

Only Scott noticed that Professor Flitwick's face was a little red.

"Ahem."

Professor Flitwick coughed into his fist, then waved his wand, and the painting Scott had been holding flew up to stick to the wall behind the podium.

"Everyone, go to your seats!" He directed the students to disperse.

Once the students were seated, Professor Flitwick stood back up on the stack of books beside the podium.

"This is a birthday gift specifically given to me by Mr. Trollope!"

He pointed his wand at the painting on the wall with great pride.

The students began to whisper, not understanding what Professor Flitwick meant.

Scott even heard someone saying he was grandstanding, using a worthless Muggle oil painting to deceive Professor Flitwick.

Professor Flitwick's gaze swept across the classroom.

"I am going to award fifty points to Ravenclaw!" he said loudly, "Because of Mr. Trollope's astonishing magical attainments!"

As his words fell, the classroom went quiet for a moment, before becoming even noisier the next second.

The Hufflepuff students were all shouting about unfairness, and a small number of Ravenclaw students also showed expressions of disapproval.

Only Roger and Milton, who were sitting with Scott, were congratulating him.

Roger did so because he trusted Professor Flitwick's judgment, while Milton truly felt the painting was excellent.

Scott knew that most Ravenclaw students were like Roger; although they were all confused, they were clever enough never to jump to conclusions easily, and they would choose to trust their Head of House.

"Quiet!"

Professor Flitwick shrieked to stop the students' clamor, waving his wand somewhat excitedly.

"You certainly don't understand why I would award points to Ravenclaw for a painting that doesn't move, but I will provide an explanation!"

The students immediately quieted down obediently.

Scott felt this was also because the students in this class were from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff; if Gryffindor and Slytherin students were here, they probably wouldn't be so obedient.

Professor Flitwick nodded with satisfaction and said to the students, "As you delve deeper into the exploration of magic, you will slowly gain an increasingly clear understanding of magic power."

His tone was modulated and full of passion.

"By then, you will perceive that the magic power present in each of you presents itself in different states due to individual differences."

Although they didn't know what this had to do with the painting, the students listened quite seriously.

Professor Flitwick gave an example, "If your Headmaster Dumbledore were to see this painting, he would certainly be able to recognize the theme of this painting at first glance."

His small body bounced on the stack of books, and he puffed out his chest.

"Ahem... if one strips away all the superficial appearances of form, what Mr. Trollope has depicted is precisely me!"

"So that's it!" Milton blurted out in a moment of excitement, "That is the reason why I felt a sense of familiarity from this painting."

He tilted his head back to look at the painting on the wall.

"The beautiful qualities of wisdom and courage coexisting—this painting truly depicts Professor Flitwick!"

The highly sentimental Milton was never stingy with his praise for others, sometimes even to the point of being overly mushy.

"Ahem." In short, Professor Flitwick blushed once again, "Thank you, thank you for your praise, Mr. Graves."

At this moment, the other students also began to examine the painting carefully with new eyes.

However, no matter how much they looked, they could not discern Professor Flitwick from that colorful, abstract painting.

A Hufflepuff student raised his hand.

"Mr. Diggory, please speak." Professor Flitwick looked toward him.

Cedric Diggory, the star student of Hufflepuff in the same year as Scott.

Scott also turned his head to look at him.