Students Up in Arms

Snape left.

In the corner, Qiao Weili and Jiamer exchanged a glance, each seeing the subtle meaning in the other's eyes.

Just then, Li Wei turned to look at them, his face still expressionless.

Jiamer immediately asked:

"Professor, is Dumbledore our enemy?"

"How could that be? Don't listen to Snape's nonsense."

Li Wei shook his head. As he mulled things over, he answered casually:

"Professor Dumbledore could never be our enemy. He will only do what is right. You can trust him."

Of course, there was one major condition to that statement in Li Wei's mind—do not fall into Dumbledore's plans.

Once he chose you as a candidate to deal with the Dark Lord, or as one of the necessary pieces, fate would likely come knocking, leaving you feeling helpless.

But with him keeping watch, there was no need to tell his two assistants about such things and cause unnecessary worry.

As for Snape's warning, there was no need to worry about that either.

He had done nothing wrong. Even if Dumbledore learned that he had forced everyone to swear an oath, the old man would probably only be pleased and think more highly of him. That was a good thing.

Snape thought Li Wei was in danger only because the man had been blinded by Li Wei's "Slytherin side" and did not yet understand what kind of person Li Wei truly was.

That was not Snape's fault. After all, a principled Slytherin was practically an endangered species in that era.

"I'm a little tired today. I'll turn in first. You two should get some sleep early as well."

"Yes, Professor."

On Saturday, Li Wei and his assistants spent another productive day.

After giving up on the Three Unforgivable Curses, he turned his attention to another dangerous spell—Fiendfyre.

In the hands of the previous Dark Lord, Grindelwald, this spell had been powerful enough to destroy an entire Paris.

They had a new objective, but before they could determine a concrete direction for their research, the three of them first had to understand Fiendfyre's properties and draw conclusions that matched their "imaginations" before slowly searching for answers.

Besides Li Wei and the other two, Hogwarts students also had an exceptionally productive day. Or did they?

No one knew who had spread the word first—Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts had assigned a lot of homework.

In any case, after a whole Friday night to let it sink in, followed by practice on Saturday morning, every student except those who slept until the sun was high realized one thing.

If they did not hurry up and do their homework, they would very likely be unable to finish and hand it in by Sunday afternoon.

Even worse, solving the questions in Li Wei's assignments was only the first step. Most of it was repetitive copying and memorization.

That meant that even if you copied someone else's correct answers, you still had to spend countless hours copying them out.

By the end of the day, the student body had clearly split into three factions.

[Good Student Faction]: They never piled all their homework onto the weekend and had always consciously completed it ahead of time. Although Li Wei's assignments caused them some trouble, they still finished everything with ease.

[Risk-Taking Faction]: They used magically enchanted quills to "automatically" complete Li Wei's copying assignments. As for memorizing the traits of ten dark creatures, after countless attempts and frantic wailing, they simply chose not to memorize them!

[Tenacious Resistance Faction]: They did everything in their power to finish all their copying assignments before the collection deadline, then spent the remaining time struggling through despairing memorization.

"Everyone, if the professor catches me on Monday and our house loses points because of it, I won't make any excuses. Please take me to the gallows and kill me."

Standing atop the table, Ron Weasley wore a solemn expression. When he said "kill me," he seriously clenched one hand into a fist and heavily "stabbed" himself in the chest.

"NO!!!"

Several people "anxiously" gathered around Ron, their faces full of grief.

"What an idiot! Harry, don't be like him."

"Ah, ah, of course."

Harry's voice was full of uncertainty.

The morning's Quidditch practice had exhausted him. He had already been feeling tired, and when faced with all that homework, he felt like his head was spinning.

"You're not going to fail to finish it, are you, Harry?"

Hermione Granger stared at Harry with a look that could kill.

"You and Ron spent an entire year complaining that you couldn't learn anything from Professor Quirrell.

"Now, we finally have an incredibly capable new professor, and he truly intends to teach us practical knowledge. Don't tell me you two... aren't going to study!"

"I—I'll definitely finish it, Hermione!"

And so, the third faction was born.

To that end, upper-year students canceled their dates—Li Wei had assigned them fully double the workload of the lower-year students. Harry canceled his meeting with Hagrid, while the lower-year students gave up their Wizard's Chess time.

For a while, most students grumbled bitterly about the new professor, and Li Wei's reputation plummeted without anyone noticing.

Sunday afternoon, four thirty.

The Study Committee Members gathered in Li Wei's office with the homework they had collected.

"Take a seat."

Li Wei casually waved his wand, and three round tables and seven chairs appeared before them.

"Years one through four at one table, years five through seven at another."

Li Wei beckoned everyone to sit. The homework piled in their arms flew to Li Wei's desk on its own and lined itself up in order.

Barton appeared silently before everyone, carrying a tray of milk tea and pastries, which he handed out one by one.

"Thank you."

Hermione thanked him softly, secretly studying Barton's appearance. It was her first time seeing such a peculiar creature—human-like, yet extremely tiny, and capable of appearing without a sound.

At Hermione's thanks, Barton gave an elegant bow, making the young girl's eyes sparkle.

"Are these sweets from Honeydukes? Professor, you've spent too much."

A pleasant male voice sounded beside her. Hermione came back to herself slightly and instinctively lowered her head to look at the sweets on the pastry plate again. Well, she had to admit, they were quite tempting.

Of course, Hermione absolutely would not eat one right now—she did not want to give the professor the impression that she was a glutton from the very start.

"It didn't cost many Galleons. Eat without worry. Consider it one of the benefits for you Study Committee Members."

Li Wei did not like dealing with unnecessary people, but once he decided to form a connection with someone, he began to value mutual goodwill.

Still, with his way of doing things, the result often looked more like an exchange of benefits.

"From now on, come here every Sunday at four. I'll give you half an hour of extra instruction, and each of you may ask me one question.

"You can regard this as an additional study group.

"In return, I'll assign you extra learning objectives. Every one of you must stay ahead of every other student in your class.

"I'll only grade your homework, and then you'll use it to grade the homework of the other students."

"Any questions?"