Ruthless Score Grinding Machine, Halloween Eve

Charms Classroom.

"Today we're going to learn the Levitation Charm."

"The incantation is 'Wingardium Leviosa,' a single wave and a flick. Be careful not to mispronounce the incantation, otherwise..."

Professor Flitwick stood atop a pile of books, giving detailed instructions in his high-pitched voice.

Hermione was paired with Ron, and she was somewhat reluctant to join him.

There was no way around it; Hermione was a very disciplined student.

Harry and Ron are a real handful, breaking the rules quite often, and who knows how many points they've lost for Gryffindor since the start of the semester.

Especially after Harry received the broom from Professor McGonagall, Harry Ron became increasingly indifferent to school rules.

So Hermione started talking to them less and less.

Hermione couldn't help but look in Lucien's direction.

She felt that Lucien was a good student who loved learning and followed the rules, and was not at all as noisy as his peers.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Ron flicked his wand and chanted the spell rapidly, but the feather only lifted its head slightly.

His wand was no longer tattered; at least the Unicorn Hair was no longer showing.

Lucien fixed this for him a few days ago, but Lucien also mentioned that he still needed to buy a wand that best suited him, as other people's wands were ultimately not quite right.

Hearing Ron's repeated attempts and loud chanting of the spell, Hermione grew a little impatient.

"It's Yu Jia~Dim Le Vi~O~Sa, the 'Jia' should be pronounced longer, yours is too short and vague."

Hermione disliked Ron's somewhat imperious tone, but he still gave it a try.

This time, the feather lifted slightly off the table by a few centimeters, but quickly fell back down.

Ron then continued practicing in silence, without speaking to Hermione.

As Ron practiced, he couldn't help but look in Lucien's direction. Compared to this "teacher's" strict teaching and serious requirements, Hermione's was nothing.

The thought of Lucien's rigorous lectures, the heavy workload, and the difficulty of the exams made Ron feel like crying.

But thankfully, as Lucien said, hard work always pays off.

Ron has already been able to create very simple alchemical machines, such as little frogs that hop around or little turtles that can swim.

Ron had made up his mind. He would show the finished mechanical animal to Percy and have him tell his Mother that he had studied hard with Lucien and had really learned something from his friend!

Seeing that Ron didn't speak, Hermione didn't care and went about trying to cast the Levitation Charm on her own.

She quickly made the feather float up and hover steadily in the air.

But this did not earn Professor Flitwick praise or extra points, because...

Hermione had grown somewhat accustomed to, or perhaps numb to, looking at Lucien.

The two feathers in front of Lucien were already rhythmically dancing the tango!

Professor Flitwick even waved his wand with a smile, adding a musical accompaniment.

In any case, whenever Lucien attended class with Ravenclaw, he was always the first to finish the teacher's assignments, adding points to the House's tally.

Regardless of the subject!

Hermione was used to this. Although she had been trying her best to catch up and studying hard in private, she just couldn't keep up with Lucien's pace of progress.

Hermione had been keeping an eye on the grade boards of the Four Houses. Gryffindor kept fluctuating, like a diving team, while Slytherin had consistently maintained its first place. Hufflepuff had been at the bottom for years, but the Little Badger weren't in a hurry and were quite carefree.

Ravenclaw, on the other hand, has maintained a slow growth trend.

Hermione thought that one reason was that Ravenclaw had the fewest members, and most of them were focused on studying, so there were fewer opportunities to lose points.

Then there's Lucien, that ruthless score-farming machine, whose score keeps piling up!

"Boom!"

A loud explosion rang out in the classroom, interrupting Hermione's thoughts.

All eyes were on the one who started the explosion, a little boy with a blackened face and spiky hair.

The crowd looked terrified, but they were also trying hard to suppress their laughter.

Lucien remained remarkably calm.

Oh, it's the demolition genius.

Seamus Finnigan exceptionally talented, or rather, very experienced, in the art of explosions.

Haha, someone who can turn Levitation Charm into Confringo, how could they not have talent?

Startled, Professor Flitwick quickly jumped off his book to check if Seamus was injured.

Ring ring--

The bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class.

The young wizards went to the Great Hall in twos and threes.

Today is Halloween Eve!

Inside the Great Hall.

Large pumpkins were hollowed out and carved with ghost faces.

Each of them had one or more brightly burning candles in its mouth, emitting light that was either bright or dim.

The pumpkins, suspended in mid-air, emitted a unique fragrance, rising and falling, and slowly rotating, as if making faces at each little wizard.

Some magically created dark clouds drifted through the Great Hall, from which many black bats of all sizes emerged.

Lucien sat at the long table and glanced at the bats.

Hmm, Transfiguration.

It looks more like Professor McGonagall's work. If Dumbledore transform them, he'd probably have them carrying candy jars and scattering sugar everywhere, or they'd simply be bats made of candy and sweets.

"Coo coo!"

An ordinary-looking brown owl flew down to Lucien and handed him a letter.

After nuzzling Lucien's hair and being fed a Pumpkin Pasties, the owl reluctantly left.

Open the letter and read it.

It really is a letter from Newt.

Yes, it's about Niffler care.

Be wary of whether it has stolen valuables from your home or others. The valuable items you give it shouldn't be just a single type of metal; the more types, the better...

Lucien maintained a correspondence with Newt.

When we start researching Magical Creature Transfiguration in the future, we'll definitely need a large number of Magical Creatures to observe.

And Newt is the person in the world most capable of providing this.

So Newt wrote a letter and had an owl deliver it, explaining in advance how to raise the Niffler and other Magical Creatures.

I can also borrow some Magical Creatures from him to raise and observe later.

Lucien looked at the letter, while Harry, sitting opposite him, slumped wearily on the table, muttering with a look of utter despair:

"Three nights a week for Quidditch practice, plus so much homework..."

What Harry didn't mention was the tasks he did with Lucien to learn potions: practice, memorization, exercises, exams...

He had never felt so fulfilled before.

Ron, standing to the side, was eating a fried chicken wing while fiddling with a bright green mechanical frog on the table with his other hand.

With a light tap of the wand, the frog, now imbued with magic, began to croak.

The way he jumps looks weird; one side is always higher than the other.

Ron mumbled incoherently:

"If you're tired, I can switch with you."

"I'm going to play Quidditch, you help me draw the diagrams."

Harry glanced at Ron speechlessly.

"Hehe."

Hermione was genuinely puzzled by these two lovable characters.

It seems that Harry's potion-making skills and Ron's Transfiguration techniques have both improved significantly over the past month.

Ron still has that little gadget in his possession.

Hermione didn't think these two were the type to study diligently on their own; they weren't the kind of students who would chase after teachers with questions.

They were only occasionally seen following Lucien.

Each time Hermione saw Harry and Ron, they were sometimes excited, sometimes frowning...

Hermione looked at Lucien, the handsome young man who was quietly reading a letter.

Curiosity and doubt suddenly appeared in her eyes.