Ron, whose name had been called, stumbled through his recitation and could not continue after listing only four Dark creatures.
Li Wei nodded and calmly announced, "One point from Gryffindor."
After Ron, Li Wei called on Harry amid Harry's pleading prayers.
Just as feared!
Harry stood up resignedly.
His performance was about on par with his good friend Ron's.
Ron had recited four; Harry managed two, but made far fewer mistakes than Ron.
Li Wei did not correct Harry's mistakes. Expressionless, he listened to Harry stammer through the material for quite a while before Harry admitted that he could not go on.
"Mm, sit down. Another point from Gryffindor."
Harry did not know how he had endured that stretch of time! When he sat down, his cheeks were burning so fiercely that he almost thought he had a fever.
Deep down, he wanted to explain himself to some unknown presence.
It felt as though a little angel and a little devil were arguing in his head.
"I wasn't slacking off. I just couldn't handle everything. I had to prepare for Quidditch practice, and Captain Wood had gone mad, making us train from early Saturday morning onward. I was exhausted.
Besides, maybe I'm just bad at memorizing things. How does this method help with learning spells?"
"Oh, shove it, Harry! We all know what's going on!
You and Ron complain every day about how awful Professor Quirrell's teaching is, yet now you're starting to miss him, aren't you?
At least Professor Quirrell wouldn't assign this much homework. Then you and your good buddy Ron could play a few more games of Wizard's Chess in the common room!"
"That's not it—"
No one cared about Harry's inner monologue. At the very least, Li Wei did not.
Ignoring Hermione's hand, which had remained raised high the entire time, Li Wei called on another Gryffindor student.
That student listed six, yet still failed to meet Li Wei's requirements.
As for Neville, curled up in a corner, trembling and on the verge of tears, Li Wei had no interest in calling on him at all.
"Another point from Gryffindor.
"All right, that concludes today's homework check. Next, we'll reinforce the key points of casting the Impediment Curse. Line up and come one at a time."
Harry and Ron, who had both performed poorly earlier, quickly rallied again, determined to win back some pride in this portion.
The two of them pulled Neville along. It was as if they had swiftly formed some sort of group, encouraging one another as they lined up in front of the podium.
Li Wei conjured training targets with Transfiguration and began observing the entire process without expression.
Among the homework he had assigned, quite a few students had used Quick-Quotes Quills to copy it automatically. The work had not been done by the students themselves at all.
The first-years had only just enrolled and did not yet dare to pull such tricks.
The second- through fourth-years, however, were practically disaster zones.
Faced with this, Li Wei merely deducted points, deducted more points, and deducted even more points without changing his expression.
And judging from their classroom performance, the students with neat handwriting, who had clearly treated copying their assignments as something important rather than scribbling carelessly in an attempt to muddle through, performed noticeably better than the other group.
That obvious difference also made the students who had not completed their homework properly look thoughtful.
It was only natural that this would happen.
Spells did not lie.
The angle, force, and speed of wand movements; the fluency of the incantation; the confidence gained from conscientiously completing the preparatory work; and the sense of superiority from doing better than others—
Every factor affected the completeness of their spellcasting.
Yes, only its completeness.
At the students' current level, they were still far from being able to compare spell power, so talent naturally did not enter the equation.
In other words, as long as they completed the details Li Wei required, they could cast a spell properly and achieve its intended effect.
There were exceptions, however.
Both good and bad ones.
Take Neville Lumbardon, for example. Although Li Wei was certain that he could never memorize the information on all ten Dark creatures, he had definitely completed his copying assignment honestly and diligently.
Even so, when it came time to actually cast the spell, he still appeared utterly slow-witted.
It seemed as if every instruction had to undergo a lengthy round of processing in his head before his body could begin moving the next second.
As he stumbled through the motions, his conviction vanished entirely, and the spell he cast naturally came out looking completely wrong.
Partly similar to his situation, yet entirely different, was Hermione.
This studious girl had undoubtedly completed Li Wei's assignment seriously, but she was overly rigid when casting spells.
Though that was not necessarily a bad thing, she herself seemed to care greatly about it.
The moment there was even the slightest deviation in her movements or incantation, Hermione could immediately notice what had gone wrong, thereby undermining her own confidence.
But that was not a major problem.
Li Wei would give her the confidence she lacked.
For students with the initiative to learn, Li Wei did not mind spending extra time offering a little guidance.
Hermione's problem, however, was mainly psychological—a matter of perception.
Psychological problems were not like answering questions, where all one had to do was write down the answer. They required the right circumstances and the right timing.
Watching Hermione, who was both satisfied and dissatisfied with the result of her spell, Li Wei did not rush to speak.
Then came the worst performer in the entire class.
Ron Weasley, a red-haired boy with freckles across his face.
There was clearly something seriously wrong with his wand. Its magical circuitry was unreliable, working one moment and failing the next, perhaps accompanied by other unknown negative effects.
Such a wand simply did not meet the requirements for casting spells.
Still, while Li Wei did not see fit to despise or hate students who did not work hard, he certainly would not give them even the slightest bit of extra concern.
Amid a burst of laughter, Ron, humiliated by his failed spell, fled to the back of the line.
"Weasley, Lumbardon, both of you need to replace your wands. Your current wands are not suitable for you.
"This will not only affect your spells' power, but also your confidence. More importantly, it will affect your learning progress."
Ron lowered his head even further after hearing that. Neville twisted his hands together, his index fingers circling constantly, and likewise kept his head down, too afraid to look at anyone.
Neither of them said anything in response to Li Wei's reminder.
Li Wei nodded. Having fulfilled his duty as a teacher, he did not press the matter further.
Amid Ron's subtle and complicated emotions, Harry stepped forward.
Unexpectedly—
Though his homework, like Ron's, had been frantically copied out in a desperate race against time, his performance was far better than Ron's, even coming extremely close to Hermione's, the best performer.
That surprised all the students—they all knew how insane Gryffindor's Quidditch training was.
Li Wei faintly heard the words "The Chosen One."
Come to think of it, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were the protagonists.
Since I have inevitably joined the plot, should I influence its development as much as possible, or should I do as I had before and avoid interfering with these people in the slightest, allowing events to follow the course of history?
Hmm, neither option seemed particularly appealing.
Li Wei did not enjoy playing nanny, dragging along two foolish children who would only explode with potential at critical moments.
But he also understood deeply that after entering Hogwarts, many things would no longer develop according to his wishes. It would not work to respond with complete passivity.
Forget it. He would take things one step at a time.
After all, Li Wei only vaguely remembered the general course of events in Harry Potter. He had completely forgotten which events would happen and when.
Watching the excited Harry return to sit beside the dejected Ron, Li Wei continued to the next part.
"All right, next is practical combat training. Today, your target will be Red Caps."
"Also, starting from this class, I will no longer tell you in advance which Dark creature you will face in the next round. Instead, I will hide that information within the memorization assignments I give you.
"Likewise, starting next class, I will begin scoring both your homework and your practical results.
"The two students who perform best in both homework and practical combat will receive this alchemical weapon made by my own hand."
Before you continue