Twisted Taste

Upon seeing Kyle, Hermione managed a weak smile, as if she wanted to say hello.

But with her thick dark circles and the look that she was about to cry, she didn't look happy at all...

Kyle thought for a moment, then walked over and sat down opposite her.

"Hello, Kyle." Hermione's voice was a little hoarse.

Kyle glanced at the books spread out on her table. "On Why Muggle Need Electricity," along with some books on Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes...

"So, you still chose to use the Time-Turner, right?" Kyle asked in a low voice.

Hermione paused for a moment as she turned the pages of the book.

"Hmm." She nodded. "I can't skip any of my classes, I can't do it..."

"But you don't look too good right now," Kyle said. "Are you sure you can make it to the end of the school year?"

Hermione looked much like Lupin on the train, as if she might faint at any moment.

If a few months passed, Kyle had no doubt that she would fall asleep during her exams.

"I don't know..." Hermione scratched her hair, sounding somewhat distraught.

Her voice was rather loud, which immediately drew the ire of some people, but fortunately Madam Pince was a bit far away and didn't hear it.

"Can you tell me how you did it?" Hermione asked. "You took all the courses, but you got very high grades, even perfect scores..."

"I always thought that if there were Time-Turner, this wouldn't be difficult, but after using it, I realized that's not the case at all."

Hermione scratched her head again. "The more I use the Time-Turner, the worse my memory gets, and it's hard for me to concentrate in class."

"If this continues, I'm sure I'll get a lot of E's on my exams. I don't even want to think about it. If I don't get all O's, how disappointed Professor McGonagall will be."

Hermione became increasingly distraught as she spoke, and eventually she even broke down in tears.

She hasn't spoken to anyone for a long time, especially since Christmas, because she told Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt, which led to Gryffindor losing to Slytherin in Quidditch.

Almost overnight, she became the most unpopular person, and even Harry and Ron stopped speaking to her.

Hermione, however, didn't care. At that time, she was already overwhelmed by her heavy schoolwork, so she didn't have time to worry about such a small matter...

This situation only improved recently after they defeated Hufflepuff.

The problem is, Ron and Harry are of no help at all; they only make things worse, and it would have been better if they had just kept quiet.

At least back then she wouldn't get angry about things outside of schoolwork... like Harry sneaking off to Hogsmeade and being discovered by Professor Snape.

Hermione couldn't understand why Sirius Black would insist on going to Hogsmeade, when everyone, including Harry himself, knew he was looking for him.

Is it really interesting to put yourself in danger?

Kyle, sitting opposite her, had no idea she was thinking so much; she simply assumed that Kyle couldn't bear the torment of the Time-Turner.

That's perfectly normal. Percy was the same way back then. Because he used the Time-Turner, he was a bit hysterical for the whole school year, and couldn't wait to return it as soon as the holidays started.

According to Diana, the Time-Turner can take your body back several hours, but not your mind.

Human energy is finite; if you use it too often, you're bound to break down sooner or later.

Kyle tapped his fingers on the table. "May I ask, do you use the Time-Turner every day?"

"I use it every day." Hermione nodded.

"What about time?"

"Before Christmas, it was about two or three hours, now it's six hours," Hermione said.

Six hours?

Kyle shook his head.

This means Hermione needed at least 22 hours to sleep each day for nearly three months, which explains her dark circles.

"My advice remains the same: drop both courses... Divination and Muggle Studies."

Kyle said, "These two courses are completely useless to you; they're a total waste of your time."

This time, Hermione did not refute.

She hadn't believed it before, but now she realized that Kyle was telling the truth.

"Also, try not to use the Time-Turner outside of class," Kyle continued. "I assume your schedule isn't the same every day."

"Three times a week," Hermione said.

"So what do you do with the rest of your time? Read books, do homework?"

"No," Hermione shook her head. "Most of it is to learn Ancient Runes. That course is very interesting, but it's too difficult. One class a week is simply not enough."

At this point, Hermione suddenly looked up. "I heard from Professor Babbling that you got a perfect score on your Ancient Runes exam last year, and the last student to get a perfect score was fifty years ago."

So you really understood everything the professor said without using Time-Turner?

Hermione had wanted to ask this question for a long time. She spent several hours every day studying Ancient Runes, yet it was less than one lesson a week from Kyle... She couldn't accept it.

"Oh, our situation is a little different."

Kyle vaguely replied, "Mainly because I met a very enthusiastic person during the holidays who taught me Ancient Runes. It was like a one-on-one private tutor. I studied with him for the entire holidays, so it's normal that I got good grades."

"A private tutor?" Hermione gasped in surprise, her eyes reddening with envy.

"Is that Professor Babbling?"

"No," Kyle shook his head. "It's someone else. He wanted to apply for the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Headmaster Dumbledore didn't approve."

"Oh, why didn't he choose Ancient Runes?" Hermione said, annoyed.

She looked at Kyle and asked hopefully, "Is that person still teaching you? Can you recommend him to Hogwarts?"

"If we had one more professor, maybe we could have this class one more time per week."

"It's a shame," Kyle said. "He left last year, and I haven't been able to find him."

Hermione was somewhat disappointed; she genuinely wanted to take more lessons in Ancient Runes.

"Here's a suggestion," Kyle said, looking at her. "Forget everything from the first lesson on Ancient Runes; it's useless to you right now. Just follow the order in the book."

You'll find that this course isn't actually as difficult as you imagined...

"Forget it?" Hermione didn't understand. "But the formula for combining symbols is very important. I read in the book that it's the most important thing."

Symbol combination?

If Kyle remembers correctly, that should be the last chapter in <Advanced Ancient Runes>.

In other words, they won't learn this part of the content until the end of sixth grade.

Professor Babbling's perverse sense of humor hasn't changed at all.

"Forget about it," Kyle said. "No matter how much time you spend, you'll never understand those symbols until you've mastered the arrangement and writing of the Ancient Runes."

"It's like Transfiguration; the first thing you need to learn is how to turn a match into a needle, not a teacup into a rabbit."

"But..." Hermione blinked, "If that's the case, why did Professor Babbling teach us in the first lesson...?"

"That's just her twisted sense of humor," Kyle laughed. "Think about it carefully, did she talk about anything related to symbols in class afterward?"

Hermione lowered her head and pondered for a moment.

Kyle's reminder made her realize that Professor Babbling really hadn't talked about symbols again after that, and the content was much simpler.

Hermione slammed her hand on the table and blurted out, "So, I've been wasting time the whole time?"