Andros

Tom gripped his wand and started thinking through the Levitation Charm and Lumos. This was different from his previous aimless experiments, when he had relied entirely on willpower and magic to move things around. Now he had to follow the rules, recite spells, and wave his wand, like a Muggle student memorizing lessons at school. It was a huge pain.

He stared at Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, recited the spell word for word, and moved his wrist according to the illustrations. On his first try, the feather on the table did float up, wobbling gently, but when he tried to shift it to the left, it went "plop" and smacked right back down on the table, like a deflated balloon.

Andros watched from the side, thoroughly amused. At last, he felt his time as a teacher hadn't been wasted. He didn't rush to interrupt, waiting until Tom had fumbled through another attempt before leisurely saying, "Tom, the steps in the book are just a guide. There aren't any hard-and-fast rules when it comes to magic. Everyone's different. If you just study by the book, you might learn to use a spell, but you won't learn to use it well. You have to make your own adjustments."

As he spoke, he casually conjured his own wand and demonstrated the Levitation Charm. "See? I move my arm about twenty degrees less than the book says. I'm tall and strong, so following the book exactly makes it easy to put in too much force and mess up the spell. You're young, and you haven't grown into your body yet, so you need to make a bigger movement. As for how big, you'll have to figure that out yourself. I can't do it for you."

Tom suddenly understood. Following Andros's advice, he adjusted his gestures and the force he used, little by little. After three or four tries, he finally got the feel for it. The feather finally obeyed, floating this way and that as he directed it, like a well-behaved little sidekick. The more he practiced the Levitation Charm, the smoother it became.

The two of them spent nearly three hours in the Study Space before Tom said goodbye to Andros and left. Although the fatigue he felt in the space disappeared as soon as he returned to reality, decades of habit were hard to break, and he still felt it was time to sleep. Besides, the hundred credits the system had given him would last only fifteen hours at most, so he had to make them last. He didn't want to lose access to his new cheat right after getting it. That would be humiliating.

Early the next morning, Tom opened his eyes and immediately checked the system panel. His eyes lit up: not only had his credits not decreased, he had gained eighteen more, and his achievement points had increased by three. He checked the system log and learned that mastering the Levitation Charm, Lumos, and the Blinking Charm had earned him thirty credits, while learning three new spells had earned him another three achievement points.

Tom rubbed his chin and muttered, "So the Study Space is a perpetual motion machine? Learn a little something, and the rewards outweigh the cost. Guess I don't need to worry about running out of credits anymore." But he knew full well that the biggest drain on his credits would be that "Transcendental State." The credits he had now would only let him activate it for ten minutes. He didn't even dare try it—what if it turned out to be useless? That would be a total waste. He imagined what it might do: could the Transcendental State make someone float? Or make them smarter? The more he thought about it, the more curious he got, but the more curious he got, the less he dared to try. He was nothing if not stingy.

As he pondered, he got up and washed, but didn't hurry into the Study Space. He and Andros had tested things out the day before. After Tom left, Andros could either sleep in the space or move around freely. If Tom was willing to spend the credits, Andros could also borrow his eyes to see the outside world, like some kind of accessory.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Tom. Wasn't this just like being a jinchuriki? But it would save him a lot of trouble. He could buy all the textbooks first and put them in the space for Andros to study. Once Andros had learned the material, Tom could go in and sit in on his lessons. That would save both credits and time. It was a genius idea!

He put his plan into action. Early that morning, Tom left home and took a bus to the city center. He walked through the Leaky Cauldron and headed straight to Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. He didn't know which textbooks the upper years used, but the shop assistants surely would. He found one who wasn't busy and got straight to the point. "I want all the textbooks for every course at Hogwarts, from first year to seventh year. All of them."

The shop assistant looked him up and down. "All the textbooks? Are you sure, kid? You look like a first-year at most. There's no need to buy them all at once. Take Defense Against the Dark Arts, for example. The professor changes every year, and so do the textbooks. If you buy them now, you might not be able to use them later. That'd be a waste of money."

Tom laughed to himself. This shop assistant was way too honest. He was probably a Hufflepuff graduate. Tom shrugged. "Knowledge is yours once you've learned it. Even if the textbooks change, learning more won't hurt. Rather than spend the money on snacks and toys, I'd rather buy books. If I don't need them later, I can sell them secondhand and still get some money back."

The shop assistant was taken aback. He hadn't expected a child to say something like that, so he stopped trying to dissuade him. He'd done his duty by offering advice. He wheeled over a trolley and started helping Tom find books. Then he looked at Tom and said with certainty, "You're definitely going to end up in Ravenclaw! Though I still think Hufflepuff is the best."

Tom nodded. "I think Ravenclaw suits me too. I'm going to be a top student, after all. I can't go to Gryffindor and become a hothead, or to Slytherin and get caught up in all those schemes. Ravenclaw is just right."

Ten minutes later, the trolley was piled high with books. Besides the textbooks for every year, there were a few extra books Tom had picked out on a whim. When he got to the counter to pay, he was stunned: he didn't have enough money. Yesterday, he'd spent only fifteen Galleons on first-year textbooks, an average of two Galleons per book. But the books for the upper years were outrageously expensive. One copy of High Magic Power: Self-Defense Guide cost seven Galleons, as if they were robbing him.

He suddenly remembered Arman complaining that when her son went to university, textbooks could cost dozens of pounds each, and the expensive ones could cost over a hundred. At the time, he'd felt sorry for Muggles. Now he realized wizarding textbooks were an even worse rip-off. With no other choice, Tom made another trip to Gringotts and withdrew two hundred Galleons to pay for the books. He also spent ten Sickles to have the shop send them home by owl. He had no intention of carrying that huge stack of books himself and exhausting himself in the process.

After buying the books, Tom didn't spend much time wandering around Diagon Alley. He headed straight for the Muggle Waitrose supermarket, one of Britain's high-end grocery stores, where the food was fresh and delicious. He might be a poor student in the Wizarding World, but in the Muggle world, he had enough money to live comfortably, and Tom had never been one to deprive himself. He burned through a lot of energy fighting and working out. Without using magic, he could rely on his fists to protect himself and even collect a little "protection money" from the bullies who picked on other students, to help cover his expenses.

Around three in the afternoon, three owls dragged a large package into the window with a series of "thump, thump, thumps." Tom put the new books in the Study Space but didn't go in himself. He wanted to find out just how much harder it was to study in the real world than in the space.

By ten that night, Tom had collapsed onto his bed, moaning weakly. "Phew, that was exhausting! Studying without the space's buff is such a slog. I'll just study in the space from now on. Why put myself through all that?"