Professor Snape's Aura

Only after gathering the ancient magical power he could obtain did Wizet come to the Great Hall.

This time, he poured the power into the Magic Eye.

Although the Magic Eye was still at the beginner stage, it had gained a special ability—to make the Magic Circuits of magical materials clear and visible.

Wizet walked toward the Ravenclaw table, and an inexplicable malice appeared from the Slytherin table.

"I heard Miss Parkinson say he's an Obscurial? An extremely dangerous person? He looks pretty well-behaved, and he's good-looking too."

"Just a shell, that's all. Find a healer to alter you with permanent Transfiguration! You can look however you want."

"I don't want to be hospitalized at St. Mungo's. The risks of alteration with permanent Transfiguration are too high..."

"If that dangerous person goes mad in class, all of us will be buried with him! Why would Dumbledore let him enroll?"

"He's way too dangerous! I don't want to die. People like that should be sent to Azkaban and let a Dementor give him a kiss!"

"I think so too. Azkaban is where dangerous people like that belong!"

The Slytherins' voices were very loud, as if they wanted everyone in the Great Hall to know that he was an Obscurial, a dangerous person.

Wizet smiled it off and paid it no mind. Not a single ripple stirred in his heart.

In his previous life, he had lived in an orphanage, and at school he had likewise suffered all kinds of criticism and exclusion because of his special status—even bullying. Those had all been commonplace.

So before entering Hogwarts, he had already prepared himself mentally and could calmly face doubts and rumors.

What surprised him, however, was that it seemed only the Slytherin table cared especially about this matter.

The other three long tables did not react much. The focus of their conversations was Harry Potter, that "Boy Who Lived."

A boy with a handsome, straight nose and long black hair sat down beside Wizet. "You really are having breakfast in the Great Hall."

"Chris told me you'd been dragged away by an upper-year Gryffindor student. I was about ready to go report it to Prefect Penelope."

"Michael, you just think Prefect Penelope is pretty and want an excuse to talk to her." Chris, who had brown hair, sat down across from them and said it with a grin.

"Morning!" a blond boy asked, "Why is your book... so small? Is it a deluxe edition?"

"Morning, Anthony!" Wizet answered. "It's not a deluxe edition. I just copied down all the contents of the textbook, and Luna helped me with the illustrations and cover."

"Morning, Wizet!" Another brown-haired boy appeared and asked with a tight frown, "Luna? Is she a girl?"

"Good morning, Terry." Wizet nodded. "Yes. She's my younger sister."

Chris Moen, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot—these four people who were speaking were all Wizet's roommates.

"You actually have such a considerate younger sister! My sister does nothing but cry all day, sigh..." Terry said, sounding a little put out.

"Will your sister enroll in the future?" Chris also leaned over.

"She definitely will!" Wizet thought for a moment. "We'll be able to see her next year."

Chris said in an envious tone, "A younger sister who helps her brother draw—what a perfect life!"

"His life is perfect, but what about us?" Michael sighed and groaned. "The first class is Potions Class!"

Snape's reputation was indeed bad. This group of first years had only just truly come into contact with Potions Class, and fear had already appeared in their hearts.

Even so, they still brought their textbooks and headed to the Potions Class classroom.

The Potions Class classroom was very distinctive, as spacious as a medieval monastery, and as dim as one too, with illumination relying entirely on a small number of torches.

Before they had even entered the classroom, a cold, gloomy air came rushing toward them.

The classroom was on the underground level. Rows of tall shelves stood against the walls, filled with glass jars one after another.

Under the dim firelight, it was impossible to see clearly what exactly was inside those glass jars that gave off strange smells.

Terry drew close to those glass jars, then immediately retreated two steps. "Hiss! Are these animal specimens? Why are they all so weirdly shaped?"

"They should be specimens of magical creatures." Wizet also moved closer and carefully identified the specimens. "Some of the transparent, furry creatures should be Demiguises. The snakes that look like they have bird heads should be Occamies."

Luna really liked the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and this book was also the textbook he had read thoroughly earliest.

Together with the fact that these specimens had all been well preserved, he could easily identify the corresponding species.

What seemed only natural to him opened his roommates' eyes.

Terry clicked his tongue in wonder. "No wonder you were a Hatstall... You actually know them so clearly!"

Wizet said, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is very interesting, so I read it a couple more times."

"Is that all?" Chris cut in. "I remember you said just now that you copied down the textbooks?"

Michael scratched his hair. "Did he? How come I didn't know?"

Chris teased him, "Your head is full of only the beautiful Prefect Penelope. It'd be strange if you noticed!"

The long tables placed in the classroom were covered in scars, their surfaces full of burn marks and signs of corrosion.

The Ravenclaw students had all arrived relatively early, but because of Snape's infamous reputation, none of them chose to sit near the lectern.

Terry asked, "Wizet, aren't you going to sit farther back?"

Wizet shook his head. "The light here isn't very good. To be safe, it's better to be closer. I'll be able to see more clearly."

"Impressive!" Anthony said sincerely. "There's a reason you already know so much right after school starts!"

"Exactly!" Michael chimed in. "Daring to face Professor Snape head-on takes not only extraordinary intelligence, but exceptional courage."

Wizet did not know whether to laugh or cry. "It is not that dramatic. It just makes studying easier. Besides, none of you have even spent time with Professor Snape, so why are you already afraid of him?"

This Potions Class was held together with Hufflepuff, and more and more people entered the classroom.

Yet no matter how many people came in, they all chose seats toward the back, trying to stay as far from the lectern as possible.

Even with only five minutes left before class began, no one dared sit in the seat beside Wizet.

Only when the class bell was about to ring did a girl with two golden braids hurry in.

Aside from the desks and chairs beneath the lectern, every seat near her was already taken. With no other choice, she could only sit beside Wizet.

It was Hannah Abbott, the girl who had been Sorted first.

She wiped the sweat from her cheeks, hurriedly arranged her textbook, and only then let out a breath as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Snape also arrived on the sound of the class bell, his black robes billowing around him as he swept into the classroom like a giant bat.

He stood on the platform, looking down from above, and glanced at Hannah, whose face was flushed red. "Hufflepuff... it seems the only time you do not fight for every second is when you are in the Great Hall, am I right?"

Hannah did not answer. She only buried her head against her chest.

"Congratulations to Hufflepuff for taking first place..." Snape said coldly. "One point deducted!"

Hannah's face turned crimson, and her body trembled slightly, as though she would burst into tears in the next moment.

The other students were silent as cicadas in winter, and the entire classroom seemed to freeze over.

"Roll call begins now." Snape said no more, his tone icy and clipped. "Hannah Abbott!"

"H-here!"

The roll call went very quickly. No one relaxed their guard, and almost the instant their name was called, they answered at once.

"Not bad. There is only one fool today." Once Snape confirmed that everyone was present, his tone finally eased a little.

"As beginners, if you cannot even grasp the concept of time, my advice is that you leave this place as quickly as possible, lest you harm both yourselves and others."

"Potion-making is a precise and rigorous discipline. Whether destruction or rebirth, both are contained within a steaming cauldron."

"I do not actually expect you to truly understand where the charm of potions lies, or to understand what potions can bring you..."

"You need only follow me completely. You need only obediently imitate every step. Wealth, reputation, and honor will all be within easy reach."

There was indeed a reason the students feared Snape.

He was like a king, and the Potions Class classroom was his palace. Here, he could control everything, even the students' actions.

After delivering this speech, he did not begin the lesson properly. Instead, he glanced at Wizet out of the corner of his eye.

"Mr. Lovegood, do you not have a textbook? Why have you brought a children's picture book to class? This is not an art lesson."

Michael Corner is actually quite "interesting" in the Harry Potter series. He once dated Ginny and became her boyfriend; later Ginny dumped him, and in the same school year he started dating Cho Chang. His preference for looks is basically confirmed, and his "adjustment speed" was extremely fast... All of this is recorded in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. If you are interested, you can look it up.